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A TEACHER^ MANUAL 



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GEOGRAPHY 



CHARLES MgMURRY 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A TEACHER'S MANUAL 



GEOGRAPHY 



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A TEACHER'S MANUAL 



OF 



GEOGRAPHY 

TO ACCOMPANY 
TARH AND McMURRY'S SEEIES OF GEOGEAPHIES 

BY 

CHARLES McMURRY, Ph.D. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1902 

All rights reseveed 






Tffe LfBRARY OF 
CONGRCSS, 

Two Co«E8 Received 

AUG. 8 1902 

COFVRIQHT ENTRY 

CUASS«>^XX<x No. 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1902, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped July, 1902, 



J. S. Gushing & Co. - Berv/ick & Smith 
Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 

AND 

THE EARTH AS A WHOLE 

-HOME GTEOGHAPHY 

For beginners home geography stands in sharp contrast 
to the geography of the world whole and of foreign coun- 
tries. It is relatively so small. But a knowledge of local 
geography and industries furnislies a good starting-point 
in geographical study. It is difficult for adults to under- 
stand how much children are dependent upon things 
which they have seen in order to explain things which 
they cannot see. The observation of neighborhood facts 
must precede the study of things at a distance. A defi- 
nite knowledge of the home surroundings, of its hills, 
streams, landscapes, agriculture, manufacturing, commerce, 
changing seasons, storms, floods, etc., is necessary as an 
introduction to the same topics in the world abroad. 

When we come to study the climate, surface, industries, 
products, and commerce of distant states and of foreign 
countries, our ability to construct correct pictures is based 
upon the varied ideas of similar kind that we have gathered 
in vivid and real form from our own home neighborhood. 
The imagination must be our chief helper in constructing 
geographical pictures of things at a distance from home, 

B 1 



2 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

but the imagination cannot construct pictures out of 
nothing, any more than a builder can construct a house 
without materials. The imagination works and builds 
with the materials which experience has already gathered. 
It is not expected that we shall gather all the experi- 
mental facts on these third or fourth grade excursions, 
but we can encourage the children to keep their eyes open 
and their minds alert for this kind of knowledge. We^ 
can at least open the door to these varied and interesting 
forms of activity. 

Children are already familiar with these home things in 
a vague, loose way, but we are inclined to overestimate 
the extent and accuracy of their knowledge. In some 
special cases they know enough about certain local topics 
without help from the school ; but, generally speaking, 
children have little accurate knowledge of local industries 
and phenomena. Even the teachers are found in many 
cases to be extremely deficient in definite knowledge about 
such common topics as local directions and topography ; 
weather changes ; the dairy, the cultivation of garden 
vegetables and fruits ; the work of the farm in caring for 
crops and farm animals ; the tools, machines, and processes 
of the blacksmith, the tinner, the carpenter, and others ; 
the work done in planing-mills, wagon factories, grain 
elevators, mills, etc. ; the shipment of fruits, meats, glass- 
ware, and iron products by rail and by water, etc., 

Many of these things which we assume that teachers 
and children know by their own daily observation are 
either not known at all or are not well understood. If they 
are to be clearly grasped and made the basis of a real 
understanding of similar topics on a larger scale, it can 
only be done by turning the children's thoughts definitely 



HOME GEOGBAPHY 3 

upon these supposedly familiar topics. They may be 
handled in such a way as to furnish interesting instruc- 
tion and to require genuine effort on the pupil's part, both 
to get clear notions and to express them in language and 
drawing. There is much variety of surprising knowledge 
to be gained by stepping from the schoolroom into the 
real world in order to see the different kinds of workmen 
in their employments, and to get a view of the country 
from the hilltops. This is especially fitting for children, 
because of their delight in these concrete realities. The 
ignorance among so-called intelligent people of many im- 
portant things about home is matter for surprise. It is to 
a large extent the cause of that lack of sympathy and 
appreciation among the well-to-do classes for many other 
people who are close about them. It is an extremely 
faulty training that allows us to pass by many of these 
matters of human interest without desire or effort to 
understand them. 

It is a marked and justifiable tendency of our modern 
education to incorporate into the course of study a knowl- 
edge of the simple universal trades and occupations upon 
which our whole state of culture rests. The manual 
training and constructive work in primary and intermedi- 
ate grades deals with some of these simple occupations. 
It is an extremely practical and fundamental demand that 
children should be made acquainted with these local 
affairs. They will ' every where need them as a means of 
interpreting social and physical environment in all studies 
and throughout life. 

Of course it must be taken for granted that a large part 
of this knowledge is picked up by a child incidentally by 
all sorts of daily experiences. But to carry out this pur- 



4 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

pose more fully with beginning classes in geography, it is 
necessary to conduct a few excursions to a number of 
these places of special interest, in particular to those 
which are near and convenient to the schoolhouse. In 
some cases an excursion is made in preparation for one 
of the topics discussed in home geography, such as that 
on soil or hills. Localities differ greatly in respect to 
the possible excursions which they furnish, but almost 
any place will afford more opportunities for instructive 
excursions than the school will be able to carry out. In 
the springtime an hour's visit to a neighboring garden 
in which the seeds of spring vegetables are being planted 
in the fresh-turned earth will be instructive. Observe 
the manner in which the soil is prepared for plantings 
how hotbeds are arranged for cabbage or tomato plants, 
and later how the young plants are transferred to the 
garden. Notice the ploughing, the various kinds of 
vegetables planted, and the different kinds of seeds and 
ways of planting them. It is well to trace the growth 
and cultivation of one or more of the common vegetables 
through the season, as cabbages, potatoes, and among 
small fruits, blackberries and strawberries. The interest 
thus awakened in the children will cause them to watch 
their own gardens more closely, and perhaps the neigh- 
boring gardens, and report in class the facts observed. 
Where the school grounds are large enough, a small 
space is sometimes spaded up and used as a school 
garden. A single excursion to a garden for three 
quarters of an hour furnishes valuable material for dis- 
cussion in one or more lessons. The next day's lesson 
in geography should require a full statement of the 
things observed on the previous day's excursion. Some- 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 5 

times drawings of the vegetables or plants furnish good 
exercises. It is a matter of interest for the children to 
make a list of all the garden vegetables raised in the 
neighborhood, such as cabbages, onions, beets, cauliflower, 
egg-plant, carrots, etc. The small fruits may be studied 
and listed in the same way. 

At another time an excursion may be made to some 
frame house in process of construction ; the various 
materials, as brick, stone, sand, lime, and lumber are 
noticed, and also the work and tools of the workmen. 
Where do the builders get these materials (lumber-yard, 
planing-mill, sand-pit, brick-yard, quarry, hardware 
store, etc.) ? As the frame goes up notice the joists 
and studding, the sheeting and siding, the rafters and 
shingles, the matched flooring, the windows and door- 
frames, and other distinctive parts of the construction. 
Drawing lessons on the plan of the foundation, frame- 
work, and elevations may be assigned. The thoughtful 
working over of this excursion in the class clears up 
the ideas and gives a mastery of the simpler forms of 
construction. A second excursion, when the building 
is under roof and the interior finish is being placed, 
will show the different kinds of mill-work and finishing 
lumber used (hardwood floors, casings, mantels, cup- 
boards, gas-fixtures, ornamental carving, or frescoes). 

In a lesson like this children may see how different 
classes of workmen assist each other and depend upon 
one another, — as carpenters, masons, plasterers, plumbers, 
painters, tinners, etc. Indeed, it is well to make a list 
of all the different kinds of men and labor necessary 
to the building of a common house. When we add to 
this the stores and shops and lumber-yards which furnish 



6 BOME GEOGRAPHY 

the material, we see how many people are engaged 
directly or indirectly in house-building. 

It seems advisable also, in some cases, to reach out 
beyond the home neighborhood and to explain where 
the pine lumber comes from, where the brick is made, 
or the stone obtained from a quarry. In this connection 
it is necessary to establish the cardinal points of the 
compass and to use some kind of a map to show the 
location of the surrounding districts or states. It will 
be better for the teacher in such a case to sketch the 
map upon the board, as children have but little power 
at first to explain maps. 

The teacher needs to exercise good control of children 
upon an excursion, and to direct their attention to the 
chief points of observation. The children will be found 
to be very careless and inaccurate in their observations 
and descriptions. Even with this objective material 
before them they need to be taught how to observe and 
to describe correctly. An excursion needs to be as well 
planned as any lesson. The teacher should have visited 
the place beforehand and have laid out the scheme of 
observation. Most teachers find such excursions trying 
upon the nerves on account of the playful dispositions 
of the children and their tendency to scatter and to 
romp. It is necessary, therefore, for the teacher to form 
a careful plan and act with prompt decision in cases of 
disorder. To compensate for this greater freedom in 
the open air the teacher will find a means of closer sym- 
pathy with children and a better insight into their 
individualities. 

The broadening of the teacher's knowledge of practical 
affairs is also a thing worth mentioning. Such excursions 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 7 

to the woods, streams, hilltops, gardens, quarries, parks, 
stores, factories, public buildings, wharves, shops, freight 
houses, and mills will bring the teacher into contact with 
the great world of realities outside of schools and books 
in a most interesting and instructive manner. It will 
qualify the teacher in many practical ways to be a real 
instructor. In most cases the teacher will .find that he 
will be treated with kindness and full consideration by 
those who have charge of the places visited. 

Even if only a few such excursions can be made in a 
year, they are valuable in suggesting to the children the 
advantages of such observations. Moreover the experience 
of children at other times in their walks and journeys can 
be drawn on to enrich home geography even when no 
excursions are taken. In fact, one of the best results on 
the part of the children is a readiness to observe and 
report things seen in the surrounding neighborhood. 
What the children have picked up in their various home 
and neighborhood experience, if properly used, will greatly 
aid the work of recitations. 

In discussing an excursion after returning to the school, 
the teacher can do a great deal to clear up the ideas gained 
by observation. At this point the teacher needs to develop 
real skill. Children upon an excursion see things in a 
fragmentary and unconnected Avay, and their real insight 
into the meaning of things seen rests upon the teacher's 
skill in showing the connection of the parts. In a factory 
or planing-mill, for example, the power that drives the 
machines is not observed by the children and they do not 
understand how a steam-engine in a separate room can 
drive machines at a distance. For the sake of safety and 
for other reasons parts of the machinery are concealed so 



8 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

that a crude drawing may be necessary to show in brief 
how the whole machine operates, as in case of the band 
saw or the lifting of grain in a grain elevator, or the 
work of a turbine wheel in a mill. If the teacher draw 
the objects, machines, and processes in connection with 
these observations, he has an excellent means of giving 
vividness to the children's observations. The children 
also should be encouraged to this graphic expression of 
their thought. In visiting fields, forests, shops, and 
factories many objects will be more clearly formed in 
the mind if this practice of sketching and blackboard 
explanation is frequently resorted to, — not aesthetic draw- 
ing, but mere sketching, diagramming, and picturing of 
objects in a crude way. The regular drawing lessons of 
the school can do nothing better, at this stage, than to 
prepare children for greater skill in this kind of draw- 
ing. It may be well also in the drawing lessons to take 
some of these objects for more accurate reproduction. 

It is evident that the teacher needs to acquire much 
facility in making sketches, diagrams, and pictures. Next 
to direct observation itself this is the concretest mode of 
teaching. It will also find quick and natural imitation 
among the children, and is a mode of expression to which 
they are accustomed from the start. The time spent upon 
such drawings need not be great, but it puts the children 
to severe tests in fixing the form of objects, and in express- 
ing sharply their ideas. Oftentimes this is a far quicker 
mode of explaining objects and processes than verbal 
statements. A free use of the blackboard by teacher and 
pupils is invaluable. 

In what order these excursions take place is not a mat- 
ter of great importance. This will depend upon the sea- 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 9 

son and upon the local surroundings, and upon the series 
of topics worked out in the regular text-book. May and 
June, September and October, are good months for visiting 
gardens and farms, and for outdoor excursions to observe 
the creeks, slopes, hills and valleys, soils, and other physi- 
cal features. Excursions to shops and factories can be 
made at almost any time of the year when the weather is 
good. Oftentimes an excursion can be made from the 
school to some store or shop only a few blocks away, and 
the children returned to the school at the end of thirty or 
forty minutes. Sometimes it is better to take the last 
hour of the day's programme for the excursion, and send 
the children home at its close. The author has occasion- 
ally taken a class of twenty or thirty children two or three 
miles on the street-car to visit a park or a court-house or 
a factory. 

It should always be kept in mind that there are dangers 
connected with visiting factories and workshops. Great 
precaution is necessary. A single accident would outbal- 
ance a great amount of good. The teacher should be very 
watchful and decisive in preventing such accidents. In 
mills and shops, where machinery is used, it is better not 
to take more than twelve or fifteen children, and to look 
out closely for their safety. It is better to warn the chil- 
dren beforehand, and be very watchful while with them. 
Even in excursions, where no danger is present, the 
teacher should be very careful not to overexcite or over- 
strain the children. In climbing stairs to get to a high 
point, in visiting strange places, especially where there is 
the noise and rattle of machinery, some children become 
timid and nervous, and should be treated with kindest 
consideration. 



10 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

When the parents are interested and visit the school, it 
might be well to invite one or more of them to go with the 
teachers and children upon some of these excursions. It 
is very desirable that parents should learn to do this for 
themselves, and to form the habit of visiting places of in- 
terest with their children. Parents could be of much aid 
to the teacher upon excursions, in caring for the children, 
in explaining difficulties, and in getting them safely home 
again. It will awaken the interest of parents to see what 
use is made of these excursions in the later instruction. 
By inviting parents to join in this, it may be possible to 
awaken a greater appreciation for this kind of school work 
and thus bring it more easily into vogue. 

Parents generally do not see the value of excursions. 
They are disposed to think that children are better em- 
ployed at their books. They do not understand that the 
real insight of children depends upon the number of 
things in the world about them which they have seen and 
understood. A meeting of parents to discuss the value 
of excursions would be helpful. The principal reasons 
for such trips could be presented, and illustrations given 
showing their educational significance. 

The problem of interpreting maps and of map-making 
is one of the chief difficulties in the first year of geograph- 
ical study. The excursions with children to high points 
of observation, either hilltops or high buildings, furnish 
the indispensable material for a map of the neighborhood. 
The previous experiences of the children in walks about 
the home are equally valuable as preparation. In some 
cases the school campus and the tower of the schoolhouse 
(as described in the excursion to this lookout) give the 
best starting for school work in map-making. While 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 11 

upon the excursion the children point out and locate 
objects according to north, south, east, and west, "flpon 
returning to the schoolroom the teacher, after collecting 
the children about him and laying a large piece of paper 
upon the floor, can reproduce in a map, of which the 
school campus forms the centre, the relative position of 
the different objects in the neighborhood. The four 
directions correspond exactly to those given in the excur- 
sion. In the first drav/ing it is not necessary to make this 
map upon a definite scale. If the teacher hangs this map 
upon the wall, he can easily show the children how to in- 
terpret the directions correctly, no matter on which side 
of the room it is hung. Some practice in repetition, how- 
ever, will be necessary to overcome this difficulty. Such 
a map is usually made upon a flat surface, and does not 
help children to image irregularities, such as hills and val- 
leys. To bring out this idea of relief it is well to make a 
sand map of the campus, or of some limited district which 
can be overlooked by the children. After making an ex- 
cursion along the creek and slopes, or to a hilltop, with 
special reference to differences in elevation, valley slopes, 
and drainage, the sand map can be made. These varia- 
tions can be better seen in walking about the country than 
from some high point of view. It is well, however, to 
trace the course of a river valley in both directions, with 
its smaller tributary creeks and their smaller valleys, thus 
getting the general slope of the country with its local 
variations. Of course such ideas will not come to full 
clearness from a single map, nor from two or three lessons. 
In connection with the various excursions, these ideas of 
distance and elevation will be repeated and cleared up. 
It is generally possible to survey a district of country ten 



12 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

or fifteen miles in diameter from some high point of view. 
On the basis of such observations it is well to make a map 
upon a scale of perhaps an inch to a mile. It includes the 
railroads, three or four principal wagon-roads, and perhaps 
two or three neighboring villages, and the more extended 
course of creek or river. Such maps should be made care- 
fully by each child. In connection with this may be 
shown a map of the township and of the county with which 
the children are more or less familiar. 

The greatest difficulty is found in introducing children 
to definite ideas of distance and topography for whole 
states and larger areas. In discussing products, such as 
lumber, groceries, fruits, coal, brick, building stone, etc., 
and in pointing out the sources from which they are 
brought to us, it is advantageous to use a larger map of 
the state and of neighboring states to locate definitely 
these regions. In order to give as much clearness and 
definiteness as possible to the ideas of distance, area, etc., 
it is necessary to fall back upon the previous experiences 
and travels of the children. They are familiar with rail- 
road travel for short distances. The time required to 
travel over these distances, by wagon or in buggies and 
also upon the cars, may help the children to form more 
definite ideas. The time required by them in going to 
the neighboring villages and towns should be used fre- 
quently as a basis of comparisons. Also the journeys by 
rail to larger cities, at a greater distance. The time taken 
formerly by stage-coaches and by the earlier settlers in 
travelling, and the difficulty and hardships of such jour- 
neys, will also help the children to form clearer notions. 
It is not likely that any teacher will overdo this effort to 
concrete these geographical notions of distance and space. 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 1"8 

It must not be expected that children in school will be 
able to get as clear and accurate notions of surface, dis- 
tance, and the various forms of land and water as the 
adult who has travelled much and seen many varieties of 
country. All of these geographical concepts grow gradu- 
ally with experience. 

In dealing with larger areas of country, maps which give 
a bird's-eye view of extensive regions, such as some of the 
railroad maps and guides, are quite helpful. They form 
a good transition from the flat map to the relief map. 
They need to be studied and discussed in the class, as do 
all maps, so as to correct false notions and give greater, 
clearness. The relief maps found in the geographies and 
large wall relief maps are helpful in giving general, ap- 
proximately correct notions, but they need to be discussed 
and explained to avoid serious error. Good pictures of 
broad landscapes of valleys and of mountains greatly 
assist the children in forming definite ideas. The pictures 
of maps given on pages 106 and 107 of the Home Geog- 
raphy illustrate the connection between pictures and maps, 
and many of the pictures through the First Book of the 
geography can be used to great advantage when it is nec- 
essary, in different topics, to illustrate the varieties of 
surface. The constant appeal by the teacher to familiar 
standards of measurement, as the foot, yard, and mile, or 
the block, section, and township, and to heights as meas- 
ured upon steeples,' buildings, chimneys, watch-towers, 
and hills, will enable the teacher to correct many false 
notions, and at the same time give a degree of concrete- 
ness and reality to the instruction. 

The home geography, as indicated above, should often 
reach out into the neighboring parts of our own state, and 



14 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

into other states, and even into the distant parts of North 
America, showing from what sources fruits, coal, lumber, 
iron, sugar, salt, and many other products come. This is 
a natural and excellent means of gradually extending their 
geographical experience beyond home. The grocery or 
fruit store, the hardware and tin shop, the lumber-yard, the 
shoe or wagon factory, point to other parts of the coun- 
try, from which they derive their material. The map 
of the United States, and even of the whole world, will be 
needed, at various times, in tracing out the sources of 
common necessities and staple products used in our own 
neighborhood. As pointed out before, in all these efforts 
to interpret maps, sufficient time must be taken to get at 
the primary conceptions of map-making. We must use the 
crudest forms of illustration, such as the making of maps 
on the floor, quick blackboard sketches, etc., so that the 
objects and relations are clearly manifest to the children. 
This time is well spent in forming a sure basis for all 
future globe and map studies. 

The observation of seasonal changes, the varying length 
of day and night, of the position and apparent movement 
of the sun, moon, and stars, may be carried on in any 
locality, and is a good preparation for later topics in phys- 
ical and mathematical geography. The climatic changes 
connected with the successive seasons, the winds and 
storms, frost and ice, and their effect upon vegetation and 
animal life, are of great value in studying climatic condi- 
tions and their effects in other parts of the world. We 
sometimes forget that these grand object lessons, some of 
them the most beautiful and imposing, belong directly to 
the child's home and are part of his own experience. 
They all involve problems too difficult for a child to un- 



HOME GEOGBAPHY 15 

derstand, but the simpler and more manifest phases of 
these phenomena should be carefully studied as an A B C 
to the larger geographical world which he must learn to 
grasp and interpret. Even within the first year's study 
these topics, bearing upon the world as a whole, will 
demand a brief treatment, and it w411 be necessary for the 
teacher to make use of all the child's experience about 
home to give him even a meagre and a^Dproximate view of 
the world as a whole, of the continents and oceans, etc. 

Another topic which involves more or less difficulty 
throughout the school course, on account of its abstract 
nature, is government. This is a subject that is capable 
of concrete illustration in the home neighborhood. The 
local government of the city, the town council and offi- 
cials, with their duties and mode of election, the police, 
the jail and treatment of offenders against law, local taxes 
and the uses to which they are put for streets, water 
supply, schools, etc., the popular modes of lawmaking, — 
all these phases of self-government can be observed and 
understood by the children in nearly every community. 
They may know some of the people who serve as local 
magistrates and the duties they perform, or by a little 
discussion in the school they can be made well acquainted 
with these facts. Even the relations of the national govern- 
ment to the smaller place can be definitely studied in con- 
nection with the post-office and postmaster, with bank 
examiners and the national banks, and oftentimes in con- 
nection with representatives and judges who are under 
the federal rather than the state authority. 

A few lessons upon the mode of assessing and collecting 
taxes, and on the various uses of the money for paving the 
streets, building bridges, providing for the fire and police 



16 HOME GEOGBAPHY 

departments, building schoolhouses, etc., are both inter- 
esting and instructive to children. One reason for this 
is the fact that all these things are familiar to their own 
eyes, and acquire in this way a fresh and more definite 
meaning. 

When we come to compare later the departments of the 
state government and of the national government with that 
which is local in our own neighborhood, we shall find on 
a larger scale exactly the same things as in local govern- 
ment, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. It 
would seem to be possible in this way to remove some of 
that haziness and indefinable abstractness which mark 
the ideas of most grammar school boys and girls on 
government. In this connection a visit to the court-house 
and to the rooms where cases are tried or where the docu- 
ments, such as deeds for all the property in the county, 
are recorded and preserved, and where the various officers, 
of the county have their rooms and transact business, is 
very profitable. Several lessons in the schoolroom may 
be given to the elaboration of the things observed on 
such a visit. 

The three important topics, included under building 
materials, clothing, and food products, embrace a large 
number of lessons upon the various common necessities 
and occupations of men. They are of special value in 
the later study of geography because they deal with those 
trades and occupations which are common in every civ- 
ilized and semicivilized country of the world. The car- 
penter, the mason, the shoemaker, the tailor, the farmer, 
the miller, the blacksmith, the baker, the shepherd, the 
grocer, the weaver, are found in every locality, almost in 
every part of the civilized world. A study of these local 



HOME GEOGBAPHY 17 

trades and occupations in our own community helps to 
make a child, in this way, a citizen of the world, and puts 
him into sympathetic relations with the simple, primitive 
industries of men everywhere. 

We will cite a few examples. In connection with 
building materials he may study, not only a house in pro- 
cess of building (as shown above), but the lumber-yard, 
the brick-yard, and stone quarry, the carpenter shop, the 
sawmill, and the planing-mill, besides other common 
sources from which the material is drawn. If it is pos- 
sible for the children to make an excursion to the carpet 
weavers, they will see, in its simplest, crudest, and most 
easily understood form, that process of weaving which is 
common to all the great textile industries in all lands. 
Where opportunity offers, ifc is of great interest to chil- 
dren to visit a pottery and observe the potter's wheel, and 
the skill of the potter in shaping vases from the crude 
clay. It is to be hoped that the manual training depart- 
ment will soon .supply this deficiency in many schools. 

A large city requires a different treatment of local 
geography from that of a village or country place. A 
city like New York or Chicago is so complex and vast 
in area that it takes much time, study, and discussion to 
understand even the simple phases of its life and occu- 
pations. On account of the numerous kinds of business, 
trade, and sight-seeing in a big^city, it is necessary to pick 
out those topics that can be treated from a simple point of 
view. Bulky products like lumber, grain, iron, and fruits 
can be studied to much better advantages than difficult, 
refined, and complex processes like the weaving and dye- 
ing of textile fabrics, the manufacture of fine pottery and 
silverware, watchmaking, and the construction of complex 



18 HOME GEOGBAPHT 

machinery, engines, microscopes, etc. Children cannot 
visit great manufacturing establishments to good advan- 
tage, especially those which present an intricate series of 
processes, executed by machinery. Children can under- 
stand a sawmill, a blast furnace, a brick kiln, a foundry 
where simple castings are made, or even a rolling-mill; 
but in most cases it is better to visit a small blacksmith 
shop, a carpenter's shop, a schooner unloading, a carpet 
weaver's, a park, the seashore, a grocery or fruit store, a 
small job printing establishment, a baker's, a grain eleva- 
tor, a truck garden, a bridge, a canal boat, an ocean 
steamer, a fish market, a monument, a freight house, a 
shoemaker's, a basket-maker's, a cooper shop, a lumber- 
yard, a shipping dock, in short, some easily grasped whole. 
If a map of the city is studied, it should be simple, giving 
only a few streets and leading sections, and locating a few 
striking points. 

Even if we limit ourselves to the simpler, more promi- 
nent and important topics, it will require much more 
time to compass the home geography of a city than of 
a country place. A whole year in third or fourth grade 
may be profitably spent upon the home geography of a 
large city, especially if we follow up the connections with 
the adjacent regions. To some extent this should be 
done, and the sources of large staple products, like lum- 
ber, iron, fruits, cotton, dairy products, vegetables, grains, 
etc., should be traced out on a larger map of the United 
States. 

Nearly every town or city has some special local indus- 
tries worthy of study, such as wagon-works, or a cooper 
shop, or shoe factory, or glass-works, or foundry, or basket 
factory, which are deserving of careful study upon ex- 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 19 

cursions. In our day, when we talk so much of the social 
function of the school, it is well to note the social value 
of such studies. In them it is easy for children to see 
the complete dependence of different occupations and 
trades upon one another, and how necessary it is for 
people to work together in harmony. They will also 
learn something of the hours of labor and wages of labor- 
ing men, and of the value of expert skill in workmen. 
The significance of machines, of mechanical inventions for 
accomplishing the greatest amount of work with the least 
expense, is noted. 

It is difficult to see how children could be trained in a 
better way than this to spell out later the great problems 
of social life. 

In close relation to these topics stands that of local 
commerce, roads, and bridges. The chief wagon roads 
by which the farmers, gardeners, dairymen, quarrymen, 
wood-cutters, and fruit-growers bring their produce to 
market are pointed out, and are also worked into those 
local maps which have been described. The farmers and 
others, with the profits gained by the sale of their prod- 
ucts, buy such things as they need in the stores. The 
idea of the town as a trade centre for receiving raw 
products from the surrounding country, and, in return, 
for distributing clothing, groceries, machines, and other 
things to the farmers, is understood. The railroad lines 
to the neighboring towns, the freight houses, the ele- 
vators, and other places of shipment, with the products 
they send out and receive, will still further enlarge the 
children's idea of a town as a trade centre. If the town 
in which the children live is a county seat it becomes, at 
the same time, a centre of government and trade. Most 



20 HOME GEOGBAPEY 

children in the rural districts and villages all over the 
country are familiar with the county seat or county town, 
where people congregate for various causes, and it would 
be advisable in these places to give a few lessons to the 
study of such a place. 

If the town lies upon a navigable river or canal, sonie 
attention should be given the trade by water, explain- 
ing boats and their cargoes and modes of propulsion. It 
is quite evident that in discussing local commerce in con- 
crete forms children may get a clear notion which will be 
a means of quick interpretation of many later geographical 
topics. 

The geography material treated in home geography 
falls into a few large, distinct topics, and these again into 
smaller units, each capable of a connected treatment. In 
every topic which is handled with children there should 
be a simple sequence of connected ideas. This is true 
even of the excursions which are made to the open 
country, to the woods, to a shop or factory. The purpose 
of the excursion, and of the school lessons which follow 
it, centres in a single idea. It may be to trace the course 
of a brook and see what service it supplies for drainage in 
time of floods, for water supply, and for beauty of scenery. 
A shoe factory reveals the process by which raw material 
is worked up into shoes and prepared for the market. 
A fruit store is a centre into which fruits are brought 
from all parts of the world and sold out to consumers. 
Most of these topics contain each a natural unit of thought, 
based upon the actual surroundings and conditions of life. 
The dairyman, for example, has the process of butter- 
making, and is dependent upon the farms for the supply 
of milk and upon shippers and consumers for the disposal 



HOME GEOGBAPRY 21 

of his product. Everything is causally conditioned, and 
the child can see the reasons and trace this line of causes 
through an industry. This means, of course, that the 
teacher must have first solved the riddle, that is, the 
problem which each tradesman is compelled to work out. 
This demands of the teacher a sharp observation and an 
ability to trace causes and effects ; in short, a clear and 
comprehensive analysis beforehand of the materials. Chil- 
dren can also acquire this close connection of thought and 
the power to express themselves coherently in longer 
sequences. The fragmentary and conglomerate character 
of much geography study is a point of criticism. Chil- 
dren can fully appreciate connected thinking if they are 
put on the right sequences with familiar objects as a basis 
of thought. For example, to trace the coal from the 
chambers in the mine to the factory or schoolhouse where 
it is used is entirely within the grasp of children ; or to 
follow the pine tree in northern Wisconsin to its use as 
lumber in a house in our town ; or bananas from a planta- 
tion in Jamaica to a grocery in a suburb of Chicago. 
Moreover, these are the same sequences that real life, in 
its necessary adaptations to surrounding conditions, im- 
poses. Such a sequence, clearly traced out and under- 
stood, is a sure basis of a connected, independent narrative 
on the part of the pupil. Trace these topics out also on 
the map. Along the line of these important sequences 
most of the children's own observations may be ranged, 
and thus they may be saved from that loose, incoherent 
collection of facts and experiences in which oral discus- 
sions are apt to run to waste. 

As already stated (p. 20), the topics treated in the home 
geography are large units of instruction, each worked out 



22 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

in a connected series of points. At the same time, by 
means of pictures and illustrations, these topics are ren- 
dered concrete and interesting. But the text, the pic- 
tures, and the detailed descriptions are designed to work 
out together this series of ideas in a single unit of thought. 
The review questions also and suggestions for teachers are 
intended to collect other concrete knowledge gained by 
the children around the central topics of instruction. The 
excursions into the home neighborhood of which we have 
spoken will serve to concentrate a still greater amount of 
experience and observation upon the central topics treated 
in the book. It can be easily seen, for example, that the 
excursions to shops, factories, and stores, together with the 
study of the home town as the centre of trade, contributes 
directly to the great topic of industry and commerce 
treated in the book. In like manner the topic on govern- 
ment, necessarily somewhat abstract in its book treatment, 
will receive froni the topics of local town government and 
county government many concrete details which will give 
to it added significance. 

The large topics on surface features, as soil, hills, val- 
leys, rivers, ponds, and lakes, in the First Book, will 
receive particular illustration in many ways from the 
excursions into the home neighborhood. The observa- 
tion of local weather conditions, winds, storms, tempera- 
ture and seasonal changes, will add substance and interest 
to the topics which are treated in the First Book under 
the subject of air. We may observe also that the excur- 
sions for working out the local maps will serve well as an 
introduction to the book chapter on maps. In these vari- 
ous ways we are able to observe the numerous and impor- 
tant applications of home-bred knowledge to the process 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 23 

of acquiring primary geographical concepts. In some 
cases it is well to begin the study of a topic with the 
treatment in the book, and to insert the local excursions 
and discussions where they are most needed. In other 
cases the local observations will be a good introduction 
to the whole topic. At the close of this chapter we will 
indicate more in detail how some of the topics in the book 
can be enriched by particular local observation. 

In some respects the incorporation of this local home 
knowledge into geographical topics is more important 
even than the logical sequence in the treatment of topics. 
But it really strengthens the idea of logical order and 
connection. It is impossible to secure such a close se- 
quence of ideas in topics unless some large, important con- 
cept is under consideration, and unless one enters somewhat 
fully into the concrete details of its treatment. The con- 
cept is necessarily comprehensive and abstract in char- 
acter. The great difficulty in the treatment of all topics 
in the first year or two of geographical study lies in bas- 
ing it upon concrete experience, and thus filling up these 
general notions with meaning. A mere outline of leading 
points in a subject is almost wholly lacking in interest, and 
cannot reveal to a child the causal and necessary relations, 
any more than the mere names of a series of battles indi- 
cates the strategic skill of a general. The details with 
which the topic is filled give not only interesting pictures, 
special objects, and lively experiences for the children to 
incorporate into their thought (such as a good excursion 
or a good magazine article always furnishes), but these 
detailed facts are the real links of the causal connection 
in important sequences. If a child has traced the corn 
from the field to the corn-crib, then through the process 



24 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

of shelling to the grain elevator, where he sees it loaded 
into cars and shipped to Chicago, where again it is trans- 
ferred to lake vessels and shipped eastward, he has a com- 
plete series of causally connected facts. These facts will 
aid him greatly in interpreting the work of the farmer 
and the grain merchant in all parts of the great corn belt. 
They will also help him to understand better the shipment 
of wheat from the wheat regions, and the movement of 
other products which are sent to the great centres of trade, 
like Duluth, Minneapolis, Chicago, New Orleans, New 
York, etc. Such a close causal sequence is found in 
nearly every topic which is treated in home geography, 
and this same causal sequence becomes typical in later 
study of the largest geographical notions or units. 

The lessons in the book, being for the most part more 
general, comprehensive statements, are better adapted to 
close up and round out the treatment of topics than to 
serve as a first introduction to them. They are an excel- 
lent basis for the teacher's study, showing what topics to 
treat and how to centre his thought on the main idea and 
to get a proper sequence of topics and materials. It will 
take thoughtfulness and skill to bring the work of the 
local excursions into close relation to the text-book study. 
At this point the teacher has to deal with several bodies 
of knowledge : (1) the experience which every child 
picks up incidentally about home ; (2) the local knowl- 
edge gained through local excursions ; (3) the pictures, 
descriptions, and explanatory matter contained in the text- 
book ; (4) the general geographical notions which these 
different materials are designed to illuminate. It may 
seem to be a heavy task for the teacher to organize all this 
material fitly, but it is by no means so difficult as to try 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 25 

to teach geography without such concrete matter. For 
example, the chapter on ponds and lakes contains general 
descriptions, backed by pictures and drawings, and further 
detailed suggestions to teachers. In addition to these it 
is useful to call up the particular experiences of children 
with dams, ponds, and lakes, to review any excursions 
which bear upon these topics, and even to illustrate from 
the lakes of one's own state the points mentioned in the 
text. New York State, for example, has many illustra- 
tions like Oneida, Cayuga, Ontario, and Chautauqua, which 
show the inlet and outlet of rivers, also the irregular shore 
lines, the harbors and cities, and the various uses of lakes 
for commerce, fishing, drinking water, ice, summer resorts, 
scenery, and the like. 

The teacher should not forget to make use of the larger 
opportunities for observation and travel which he has had. 
His reading also will have supplied him with many defi- 
nite geographical details, and he should strive in every 
way to use these experiences to give a lively interest to 
geographical study. A teacher with a good imagination 
can build up from his reading and studies geographical pic- 
tures which are more vivid and expressive than the direct 
observations of many people. In connection with the dis- 
cussion of harbors on pages 58 and 59, it may be well to 
present clearly, by means of a board map, pictures, and 
verbal description, such places as the harbor of New York, 
San Francisco, or some other sea port or lake port, familiar 
by name to the children. 

There is still another means by which such topics can 
be enriched with concrete material, and the work be made 
very interesting. The large topics treated in the book 
furnish an excellent basis for the collection of pictures and 



26 HOME GEOGBAPHY 

for grouping them about significant ideas. Even during 
the first two years of study this can be done to a con- 
siderable extent. From papers, magazines, guide books, 
and advertisements, from railroad announcements and 
pictures, it is possible for teacher and children to work 
together in gathering and sorting material suitable for 
illustrating the lessons. Old geographies furnish excel- 
lent material of this sort. Even after being sorted and 
arranged, these pictures need to be studied and interpreted, 
as children are largely lacking in the experience necessary 
to interpret even good pictures. These need also to be 
brought into direct relation to the topic studied in the 
books. Such pictures are well worth preserving in scrap- 
books for use in future classes. 

In addition to his other accomplishments, it is well for 
the teacher to use the sand map, and mould the desired 
forms quickly, while talking and explaining, and per- 
haps questioning the children. Children also take much 
pleasure in constructing local and other maps in sand. 
Sometimes the corner of the schoolroom may be used for 
this purpose, sometimes the ground on the campus or 
school yard furnishes, in good weather, the best conditions 
for map-making. 

Before leaving each important topic or division of a 
topic the pupil should be able to give a connected and 
relatively complete description of the subject handled, 
basing it partly upon the book lesson and partly upon 
knowledge gained from other sources. Until this is done the 
teacher cannot be sure that the children have clear notions 
and a real mastery of the subject. Such recitals by the 
children should not be interrupted by frequent questions 
and interpolations by the teacher. Full, clear, and self- 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 27 

reliant expression by the children is the aim to be reached. 
Frequent questions either interrupt the children or help 
them with suggestions to such an extent that they do not 
gain the power of clear and connected narrative. This 
ability is, however, a result that every good teacher will 
work for until it is reached. The teacher should be kind 
and considerate of the children in every way, but this 
should not interfere with high aims and strong demands 
for self-reliant effort. 

As soon as the children are old enough to write upon 
topics treated in the book, it is a fine test of their power 
and of the teacher's success to give them a written test. 
He must not expect too much at first, as children are not 
very proficient in the fourth and fifth grades in the writ- 
ten expression of their thought ; but it is very useful 
both to teacher and pupils to apply the written test to the 
previous oral work and discussion. 

The text-book itself forms a good basis for strong work 
during the study period. It is the practice of our schools 
generally to supply our children with a good deal of study 
work at their desks in preparation for their coming lessons, 
and the teacher must provide for this. But it should be 
remembered that children of this age should be able to 
read and understand the text with comparative ease before 
it is turned over to them for seat study. Our whole dis- 
cussion heretofore has revealed the variety of concrete 
experiences which should stand at the beginning of any 
topic. In the assignment of the lesson for seat study it 
is well to call these topics to mind, to anticipate any 
unusual difficulties, by calling up the previous experience 
of the children, and thus to arouse their interest. In this 
preliminary work children must first learn how to think 



28 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

geography before they can put the right khid of inter- 
pretation into the descriptions and statements of the 
book. 

THE EARTH AS A WHOLE 

The study of the Earth as a Whole calls for a very brief 
treatment for children of this age. Children are naturally 
interested in thinking of the earth as a great ball and they 
are capable of understanding a few of the simpler notions 
of mathematical geography. The topics on local geog- 
raphy concerning the seasons, observations of the sun, 
moon, and stars, and the changes of day and night are 
an indispensable basis for this study of the earth whole. 
The notion of the earth as a globe should be gotten from 
as large-sized globes as can be secured. In these lessons 
the appeal to the senses and imagination of the children 
by means of globes of different sizes to represent the earth, 
moon, and sun is very helpful. A yarn ball pierced with 
a knitting-needle, a marble, a football, pasteboard globes, 
and the best school globes are very useful. The teacher 
needs to handle these materials very freely to show the 
relative position and motion of the earth. At the same 
time the blackboard may be used for the graphic repre- 
sentation of the earth in its position and course. It is 
well also for the children to use the globes and make the 
drawings to express their understanding of the subject. 
Long verbal niceties are to be avoided. The whole subject 
needs a brief treatment, and its more difficult points should 
be left for later years. 

In fixing the names and location of the different parts 
of the earth upon the globe, such as zones, continents, 
oceans, and lesser divisions, the quickest way is that by 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 29 

oral drills with the whole class. This is an old-fashioned 
concert drill in naming and pointing out the location of 
geographical objects. Let the teacher use the pointer and 
secure lively, spirited work. In a very few lessons the 
essential things will be learned. This is no suitable place 
for memorizing a multitude of geographical names and 
places about which the children know nothing. At the 
same time this study of the earth as a whole and the fixing 
of the great geographical features upon the globe give an 
element of clearness to all later geographical study. The 
general movement is from the home outward toward the 
remoter parts of the earth, but children must have a 
general grasp of the earth whole at first, so that they will 
not be moving out constantly into a dark or vague 
unknown. 

The study of the earth as a whole should be brought 
into close relation to the previous experiences of children 
and especially to the home geography. In conversation 
they have heard more or less of other countries and of the 
earth as a big ball. They see the Chinese, the Germans 
and Italians, and other races on the street, and they can 
locate on the globe the countries from which they come 
and the oceans they must cross in order to reach the 
United States. Many of the common articles of food on 
our tables, and our clothing or ornaments come from 
foreign countries. Let them be located with reference to 
these facts; e.^., tea, coffee, sugar, spices, ostrich feath- 
ers, ivory, mahogany wood, statuary, porcelain, tropical 
fruits, house plants like begonias and palms, cocoanuts, 
parrots, silks, rugs, and even curiosities they may have 
seen, or wild animals from different parts of the world. 
Even the stories the children have read from the " Seven 



30 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

Little Sisters," the "Arabian Nights," the Bible stories, 
the voyage of Columbus, the Greek stories and myths, 
may be used to help in locating far distant countries. 

The study of the grocery and fruit store, the china 
store, and the breakfast table may also lead us to the 
most distant parts of the earth. 

EXCURSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 

Excursion to the Normal School Tower 

The excursion with a class of third grade children to 
the tower of the Northern Illinois Normal School was 
designed to give a broad survey of the country about 
De Kalb. The tower is about ninety feet high and gives 
a good view, five or six miles in all directions, including 
prairie, woods, creek, the town of De Kalb, farms, fields, 
etc. 

1. Before taking the trip the teacher made a visit to 
the tower and studied the surrounding country, thinking 
out a series of topics which would interest and instruct 
the children as observation material. 

2. Just before the children began the trip, fifteen 
minutes were spent with the class on such questions as 
the following : At what places in De Kalb can one get 
a good view of the surrounding town and country ? 
They mentioned a few such places, as the water-tower, 
the tops of some high buildings, windmills, and steeples. 
Name some of the objects which you will be able to see 
from the top of the Normal School tower. What else will 
you be able to see from this tower ? How far can you 
see ? Can you see your homes? How high is the tower ? 
They named several things, creek, railroad, bridges, water- 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 31 

tower, factories, homes, etc., and pointed, naming direc- 
tions. 

With these preliminary questions and discussions it 
was thought the children would be more acute and defi- 
nite in their observations when the opportunity was 
given. 

3. The children, about fifteen in number, climbed five 
stairways to the top of the tower, when they came out 
into the open, and quickly began to name and locate 
objects in one direction after another. 

(a} In particular toward the south they notice the 
natural woods, the two bridges across the creek, the shoe 
factory, the creamery, the fields and farms beyond, and 
the distant course of the creek. 

(5) Toward the north are seen the open fields and 
pastures, ploughed fields, cattle and horses, stacks of straw, 
corn in the shocks, and in the distance, six miles away, 
dimly, the water-tower of Sycamore, a neighboring town. 

(c) To the east, across the creek, lies the town of De 
Kalb, the stores, nine tall factory chimneys, several church- 
towers, the water-tower, the gas-tank, and the clusters of 
houses. They notice also some of the streets and point 
out their own homes. Beyond the town they can see the 
farms and fields of the level country. 

(c?) The country to the west is a broad rolling prairie 
dotted with groves and farmhouses, with big barns and 
windmills. Stock is seen in the pastures, and the fields 
are mostly brown with autumn. The little creek or 
brook that passes through the campus can be seen in its 
course two miles or more to the west, also the slopes on 
either side. From these slopes comes the water that fills 
the brook at the time of the spring floods. 



32 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

(e) The children call attention to the line where the 
sky and earth seem to meet and call it the horizon. How 
far away is it ? What is its shape on all sides? How big 
a circle can we see across, with the tower as a centre ? 
Can we see the whole county ? The children notice the 
small size of objects like men or cattle, as we look down 
upon them. 

CO ^^6 notice that along the course of the creek to 
the east for several miles there are natural groves of hard- 
wood trees. Toward the west lies the prairie, with only 
such groves and orchards as men have planted. Once it 
was treeless prairie. Toward the east also is the town 
with its smoking chimneys and crowded houses, toward 
the west the open country with its fenced fields and 
scattered farm dwellings, groves, etc. While the children 
are observing from the tower, they should be called to- 
gether and asked specific questions about the things seen, 
so as to give definiteness to their observations ; otherwise 
they will fail to see clearly the important things. 

The next day it will be found necessary to have a dis- 
cussion of the experiences gathered upon the excursion. 
Let the children explain one after another the things 
observed in the four directions. To give definiteness to 
these reproductions have a large piece of drawing or 
wrapping paper laid flat upon the floor, upon which to 
draw a map with the schoolhouse and campus as the 
centre. The course of the creek is drawn also upon this, 
and the location of forests, city, fields, and all objects of 
interest noted. Let the teacher draw this map before the 
children, and have them explain the direction and the 
proper location of creek, bridges, railroad, water-tower, 
etc: 



HOME GEOGBAPHY 33 

Let the children also give complete verbal statements 
of the things seen, with as little questioning as possible, 
using the five topics as a basis. The map can now be 
hung up on the wall, and the directions, fixed before in 
their natural position, still retained in this changed posi- 
tion. Somewhat later it may be well to make a more 
careful study of the slopes and to form a sand map which 
illustrates surface features. An excursion outdoors, along 
the little creek, to get the ups and downs, the hills and 
slopes, and the level flats near the brook, is advisable, as 
a preparation for the sand map. This will lead the chil- 
dren to observe more closely the arrangement of slopes 
and variations in level. 

Later still it may be well to show the map of the state 
of Illinois, including De Kalb County, and thus bring 
their experiences about the home into relation to the wall 
map, and then finally to the United States and to the 
world. 

After this preliminary board sketching a map of the 
town, showing a few chief higliAvays leading out to the 
country and to neighboring towns, may be made by each 
pupil, applying a definite scale of an inch or half-inch to 
the mile. 

The location and direction of the neighboring towns 
and the railroads connecting with them should be shown 
by sketches made by the teacher on the blackboard. 

Any sketching done by the teacher on the board may 
be required later from the children, so that they may 
learn to express themselves freely in maps. The sketch- 
ing of these maps on the board, and the writing of the 
names of objects or places, may be a profitable exercise in 
seat work during the study period. 



34 HOME GEOGEAPHY 

In case the children need a topic for written language, 
it would be wise to use these topics developed in the ex- 
cursion as a basis for such written work. 

It is advisable to take a similar excursion with these 
children in June, when the fields show a wholly different 
aspect and the woods and groves are in leaf. 

Excursion to a Nursery 

Near the schoolhouse at Normal, Illinois, is a nursery 
where fruit trees, shade trees, ornamental bushes, and 
small-fruit plants are cultivated and sold to growers. 

In April an excursion is often made with the children 
to the packing grounds of this nursery. At this season 
the nurserymen are very busy packing the young trees 
and plants for shipment to many parts of the country. 

The children notice large pine boxes some twelve feet 
long, and three feet square at the end. Straw is thrown 
into the bottom of the box, and then the apple trees, two 
or three years old, are wrapped at the roots with wet 
moss and packed into the box. When the box is full the 
whole is drenched with water so as to keep the roots damp 
during the time of shipment. Wagon-loads of these 
boxes are driven to the station, where they are freighted 
to all parts of Illinois and neighboring states. 

Sometimes a small consignment of plants or trees is 
wrapped first in moss, then in straw, and the whole care- 
fully bound with strong cord and shipped thus without 
boxing. 

The straw for packing is obtained from the farms near 
by ; but the fine moss, which holds moisture and keeps the 
roots damp, is obtained from the swamp lands of Michigan. 



HOME GEOGBAPHY 35 

In the packing grounds the children see thousands of 
young trees, apple, pear, peach, cherry, and shade trees, 
closely packed together with their roots in the dirt, hav- 
ing been collected from the nursery fields and thus "healed 
in " in readiness for shipping. Evergreen trees, lilacs, 
rose bushes, hedge plants, and others are also kept in 
abundance upon the packing grounds. 

In late winter another excursion can be made to the 
long cellar-like houses where the grafting and budding 
of young fruit trees are carried on. The young seedlings 
are raised by thousands the preceding summer, and upon 
the roots of these the choice kinds of fruit are grafted or 
budded. The process of cutting and wrapping can be 
learned, and in the trees a year or two older the effects of 
the budding or grafting can be seen. In this connection 
children may learn how our domestic fruits have been de- 
veloped and how varieties are obtained and propagated. 

The apple seeds used for raising seedlings are brought 
often from Europe, where they are obtained from the 
pulps of apples used in the cider-presses. 

A practical lesson is learned upon these excursions as 
to how to plant and to care for young trees. In connec- 
tion with arbor day this is the best mode of encouraging 
the planting and care of trees. 

Spring or early fall is also a good time to go through 
the nursery fields, to observe the cultivation of various 
fruit and ornamental trees, and to notice how rapid is the 
growth of young plants. 

In the discussion and reproduction of the main facts 
learned upon these excursions, the value of the nursery 
to farmers and fruit-growers, as a necessary source from 
which to obtain young trees and plants of all kinds, is 



36 HOME GEOGBAPHY 

emphasized. In the prairie and treeless regions of the 
West and in fruit-growing regions tlie importance of the 
nurseries in the last thirty years has been very great. 

Children may be led to discriminate in their observa- 
tions between apple, peach, pear, and cherry trees so that 
they can recognize them in later observations ; also be- 
tween the kinds of shade trees, as maple, box-elder, elm, 
oak, Cottonwood, etc. 

Excursion to a Blacksmith Shop 

Before taking children to a blacksmith shop it is well 
for the teacher, as in most excursions, to visit the shop 
and study its work. 

The children enjoy seeing the blacksmith working at 
the forge or hammering the red-hot iron upon the anvil. 
The use of the bellows for increasing the draft and heat- 
ing the iron arouses their interest. The kind of coal used 
and where it is obtained should be known. It comes 
in lumps, but breaks up very fine at the touch of the 
hammer. 

When a horse is brought into the shop to be shod, a 
pair of shoes of the right size is selected, according to the 
size of the horse's foot. The blacksmith does not make 
the shoes and shoe nails as formerly, but they are sent 
him from the large factory. Yet the iron shoes that come 
from the factory have no toes nor heels, so necessary in 
holding the foot firmly on icy or slippery ground. The 
children see the blacksmith heat the horseshoe to a bright 
heat, then, on the anvil, they see him turn down and 
sharpen the heel points and weld on the toe point. After 
that the shoe is cooled. The blacksmith takes the horse's 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 37 

foot betAveen his knees and trims the hoof. By question- 
ing the smith we find that the hoof grows constantly, and 
the whole is renewed once a year. The old hoof needs 
to be trimmed with a knife, and the new shoe is fastened 
on firmly by wrought-iron nails which are driven through 
the edge of the hoof and clinched on the outside. About 
once in six weeks or two months the shoes need to be 
taken off, sharpened, and fitted on again. The advantage 
to the horses is the avoidance of tender feet, greater firm- 
ness upon the ground in walking, running, and hauling, 
and in winter time especially the avoidance of slipping 
and falling, and perhaps breaking the legs. 

The cost of shoeing a horse on all four feet with new 
shoes may be $1.50. For resetting old shoes, one-half 
this. But the value to the farmer or teamster of having 
his horses well shod is much greater than this. The black- 
smith is thus seen to be a very important workman for the 
farmer, the drayman, the liveryman, and for any one using 
horses. 

The tools used by the blacksmith are worthy of some 
special examination. The long tongs for handling hot 
iron, the anvil and hammers and wedges, the knives for 
trimming the hoofs, the peculiar working of the bellows, 
the pincers for drawing nails, and the files, — each has its 
peculiar use and fitness. Then the skill and ease with 
which the workman performs his work should be realized 
to some extent by the children. 

The sources from which the blacksmith gets his tools, 
horseshoes, nails, anvils, and forge will also show his 
dependence upon others in the simple system of econo- 
mies. 

Quite a number of the things seen at the blacksmith's 



38 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

are suitable objects for the children to draw, as the 
forge, anvil, tools, and even the blacksmith shoeing a 
horse. It is not uncommon to find the children making 
an interesting group of drawings on paper or on the 
blackboard as the result of such a visit to the shop. 

In this shop also the iron parts of wagons and buggies 
are often repaired, the tires of wheels are set and tight- 
ened, and springs are fixed. Oftentimes a blacksmith 
shop and a wagon shop are combined, as the wagon- 
maker and blacksmith are necessary to each other in 
the construction or repair of a wagon. The tools and 
machines necessary for this kind of work form an addi- 
tional study of interest and value. 

In addition to the suggestions made to teachers in 
connection with leading topics it may be well to illustrate 
in a few cases how a given home locality may present 
direct observation lessons preparatory to, or illustrative 
of, these large topics treated in the First Book. 

In the neighborhood of the schoolhouse at De Kalb, 
Illinois, the topic on soils may be enlarged by experiment 
and observation as follows : Take the children out upon 
the campus and into the neighboring fields to notice 
the depth and quality of soils. If a ditch has been 
lately dug, notice the depth of the black soil and of the 
yellow clay. If necessary, use a spade, and first dig a 
hole upon high ground, noticing depth of soil. Later 
sink a hole in the low swampy campus near the creek, 
and see if the soil is different in depth and quality from 
that on the highest knoll. What reasons may be given 
for this difference ? Notice what plants and trees grow 
upon, the low, damp ground, and what upon the higher 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 39 

parts. In June or September observe the difference in 
the growth of corn or small grain upon the higher and 
in the lower parts of the neighboring field. The swampy 
places or sloughs have a very rank growth. What is 
the reason for these differences ? In the natural grove 
on the campus examine the decay of the leaves and 
twigs and plants under the trees. Notice the difference, 
if any, between the soil in the woods and that upon the 
prairie. 

In spring, at the time of the floods from melting 
snows or rains, take some of the muddy water from the 
creek or brook and let it settle. Where does the creek 
gather all this sediment ? How large an area of land 
does ' the brook drain ? Trace up the slopes as far as 
possible. Where there are steep banks by the side of 
the creek notice the cross-section of soils. Notice in 
places where the slopes are steep how the water washes 
out the dirt in little ruts and gullies. Why do the 
cultivated fields allow the soil to wash out more than 
pasture lands ? How can the washing away of the 
soils be hindered along sloping fields ? Notice how the 
farmers enrich- the fields with fertilizers and sometimes 
sow grain fields to grass and clover. What reasons 
may be given for this ? Notice the effect of draining 
the low lands or marshy places by tiles. What is the 
advantage of this drainage to the soil and crops ? 

In boring the wells for town water supply twelve 
hundred feet of strata were passed through. Find out 
what these strata were and make a sectional view of them 
upon the blackboard. Twenty miles east of the town 
the railroad crosses the valley of the Fox River, which 
has been washed out forty or fifty feet deeper than the 



40 BOME GEOGRAPHY 

prairie on either side. Make a diagram of this on the 
board, and show where the rock quarries jut out at 
the sides of the valley, from which sources the lime- 
stone rock for the foundations of houses is obtained. 

Observations which can be made by a class near the 
school at De Kalb in connection with the topics on rivers 
in the First Book. 

The winding course of the river, fringed in places 
with groves of natural woods, the general direction of 
the valley, with the slopes on the sides, and the tribu- 
tary brooks, can be traced by observation. The floods 
of the Kishwaukee in March, which are caused by the 
melting snow and rain, break up the ice which has 
formed during the winter months and send it down the 
stream in floating masses. This mass of ice sometimes 
collects above the foot-bridge, and even threatens to 
sweep away the heavy piles upon which it is built. 
Water is from five to eight feet deep and from sixty to 
one hundred feet wide. During the several days of the 
spring freshet, and for several weeks, in fact, a very 
large quantity of water passes down this valley. With- 
out the river to drain off this excess of water the fields 
would remain flooded for long periods. 

At the same time the small tributary stream or brook 
which passes through the campus grounds overflows its 
banks, and spreads out over the low part of the campus 
almost like a river, making approach from that direction 
to the school impossible. It collects much sediment 
from the. corn-fields and other fields which it drains, 
and when the flood is passed the mud is found covering 
the sidewalks and slopes. On the other side of the 



HOME GEOGBAPIIY 41 

river, toward the town, small runs and sewers empty 
into the river, which in this way provides drainage for 
the town. 

During the dry summer and autumn months there is 
but little running water in the river. Locate the sources 
of the river in the swampy prairies some miles south of 
De Kalb. Here the channel has been deepened and 
straightened by artificial 'ditching, thus draining the 
rich prairie swamps and converting them into rich, pro- 
ductive fields. 

Trace the course of this small river northward until 
it unites with other creeks, passes by the city of Belvi- 
dere, and joins the Rock River. On the map of Illinois 
follow the course of the Rock River until it joins the 
Mississippi, then on the map of the United States trace 
the Mississippi until it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. 

Suggestions in connection with the topic on ponds and 
lakes. First Book. 

Observe the pond on the campus and the slopes from 
which the water is collected. At other places upon the 
prairie low swampy ponds have been seen by the chil- 
dren. Call to mind the rank grasses and cattails which 
are found growing in these ponds. Where they have 
been drained out, the effects upon the rich soil can be 
seen. At several points along 1:he Kishwaukee are par- 
tial dams, causing the water to collect above. At points 
where small creeks enter, can be seen the fan of dirt 
which has been washed down by the tributary brook. 
Notice the effect of washing and rolling upon the pebbles 
and stones in the bed of the creek. Ask the children 
how many of them have seen Lake Michigan. Could 



42 NORTH AMEBICA 

they see across it ? The distance across Lake Michigan 
just above Chicago is about sixty miles, the same as 
the distance from De Kalb to Chicago, about an hour 
and a half by rail with the fast trains. What can the 
children recall about the ships on Lake Michigan and 
along the Chicago River. Show pictures of the lake 
steamers and sailing vessels and of the loading at the 
wharf. 

NORTH AMERICA AND OTHER CONTINENTS 

1. The value of the full study of North America. 
Following close upon the heels of home geography comes 
the study of the United States and of North America. 
There are good reasons for an enlarged study of our own 
country early in the geographical course. A much fuller 
treatment of the chief topics in our own country, preced- 
ing any detailed study of foreign countries, is rapidly 
becoming the order of the day. There are several good 
reasons wh}^ these home studies of our own country should 
precede all others in geography. In the first place, they 
are more directly connected with the topics already 
studied in home geography, and in many respects they 
are a direct outcome and continuation of those topics. In 
the second place, they are by hearsay and by frequent 
mention better known to the children than anything else. 
The children of New York State, even before beginning 
geographical study, have heard many times about the 
Hudson, the Adirondacks, the Great Lakes, New York 
City, Buffalo, the Alleghany Mountains, the Ohio River, 
and they are much more interested in these than in many 
foreign places of which they have never heard. Thirdly, 
the leading topics of study in the United States, as the 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 48 

rivers, cities, mountains, lakes, products, industries, etc., 
illustrate or explain almost exactly many of the same 
topics which will be studied later in other countries. It 
seems strange that we should think of studying the moun- 
tains, the rivers, the agriculture, mining, and manufactur- 
ing of other countries before giving any clear description 
and understanding of kindred things near by, and known 
to us as important in our own land. Fourth, a much 
greater concreteness and fulness of detail are appropriate 
to these topics descriptive of our own country than to 
the multitude of topics in foreign lands. It is very de- 
sirable that such topics as are treated in the early years 
should be full of relishable, meaty subject-matter. This 
can be secured easily in topics like those of the Second 
Book, as the Mississippi River, the Rocky Mountains, the 
Great Lakes, and the people and industries of our own 
country. 

We must make our choice, then, between a full, rich, and 
instructive discussion of a few leading American topics 
in early years, and a lean, shallow, uninteresting summary 
of many topics selected from the whole geography of the 
earth. There can be little doubt which of these plans is 
more valuable and educative. 

Fifth, the history stories connected with North America 
which are treated in the same grades as the geography, 
make it especially advantageous to bring the geography 
and history into closest relation. The stories of Hudson, 
Champlain, La Salle, De Soto, Lewis and Clark, and others 
cannot be understood without the geography of North 
America. On the other hand, the history stories lend a 
peculiar attractiveness to many localities in our American 
geography. 



44 NORTH AMERICA 

Our American schools are beginning to make much use 
of early American history stories in the middle grades. 
Nearly every important part of North America, its rivers, 
mountains, plains, and coast lines, is touched in an inter- 
esting way by these stories of early adventure and dis- 
covery. What a waste for children to be studying the 
geography of Turkey and Russia, of the Nile Valley and 
of Siberia, when in their history lessons, in the same grade, 
they are with the French explorers along the Great Lakes, 
or with De Soto and La Salle upon the lower Mississippi, 
or with Lewis and Clark in their voyage up the Missouri 
and across the Rocky Mountains, or with George Rogers 
Clark descending the Ohio River, or with Hudson and 
John Smith and Miles Standish along the eastern coast ! 

Such a brief general survey of the world whole as is 
necessary for children of these grades has been amply 
provided for in the lessons following the home geography 
in the First Book. 

Sixth, North America is extremely rich in the variety, 
attractiveness, and importance of its geographical features. 
The Mississippi River furnishes the best illustration in the 
world of a great navigable river, draining the largest and 
richest alluvial plain in the temperate zone. The St. 
Lawrence is still more remarkable for its system of Great 
Lakes and for Niagara Falls. The Colorado is more 
remarkable than either of them because of its Grand 
Canon. The mountains of North America are of every 
variety, abounding in impressive scenery and in mineral 
resources and wealth of forests. The variety of climate 
in this country is of every type from that of Florida and 
southern California to that of Labrador and the Klondike. 
The agricultural and mineral resources of the country and 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 45 

the occupations of the people, based upon these, illustrate 
all the chief phases of human activity on a grand scale. 
It has even its desert plateaus and salt lakes, its volcanoes 
and lava beds, its frozen rivers of the north and tropical 
fruits of the south, its Yosemite Valley and Yellowstone 
Park, its Mammoth Cave and Great Dismal Swamp and 
Everglades. 

A child who has gained a clear knowledge of the 
leading geographical ideas illustrated by the geography 
of North America has acquired a substantial and ade- 
quate basis for all his future geographical information, 
whether gained in school or in life. 

Seventh, from the pedagogical standpoint, there are 
two significant reasons why this clear and full knowledge 
of our own country should be gained early in the course. 
First, it constitutes that body of apperceptive ideas by 
the use of which children can the more easily and quickly 
master and appropriate the geography of other countries. 
It is the capital with which a child quickly develops 
the geographical resources of other countries. This is 
an idea whose growing importance is being more and 
more understood by teachers. Secondly, the geograph- 
ical objects with which the children are made familiar 
in North America become the commonly used and fixed 
standards upon which all other foreign objects are 
measured and their size or value determined. Just as a 
child who has clear notions of what is meant by a foot, 
a yard, a gallon, a barrel, a pound, a ton, a square mile, 
a hundred miles, a dollar, a thousand dollars, a peck, a 
bushel, etc., can easily measure all objects upon these 
standards ; so a child who has acquired a definite knowl- 
edge of the Hudson River, of Mt. Washington, of Lake 



46 NOBTH AMEBIC A 

Erie, of Washington, District of Columbia, of Salt Lake, 
of a gold mine, of oyster fisheries, of a cattle ranch, of 
Niagara Falls, of Chicago as a trade centre, etc., can 
constantly fall back upon these familiar standards, and 
by comparison determine the size, quality, or value of 
new objects in other lands. 

2. It is a striking feature of the Tarr and McMurry 
geographies that they pick out a few important topics 
for elaborate treatment, instead of giving a brief and 
superficial survey of many topics. This concentration 
of study upon a few important units leads to a fulness 
and thoroughness of instruction which makes the study 
in all respects more valuable. There is such an end- 
less variety of topics in geography that some sort of 
selection is imperative. In making this selection the 
teacher must weigh the relative worth of facts and pick 
out those which have a commanding influence ; for exam- 
ple, the St. Lawrence River in Canada, lumbering in 
New England, coal and iron in Pennsylvania, and the 
Erie Canal in New York. The Great Lakes have a dom- 
inating influence upon the climate and commerce of the 
richest part of Central North America. Such a large topic 
as this, studied in its important influence and relations, is, 
in reality, a key which unlocks one great door of knowl- 
edge. 

Such a topic also admits of a logical sequence and organ- 
ization of facts which calls for good thought work both in 
teacher and pupils. It is in marked contrast to a frag- 
mentary and superficial accumulation of geographical facts 
without any strong unifying thread. This subject, the 
Great Lakes, makes it necessary for the teacher to think 
out a connected series of important topics dealing with 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 47 

the physical features, the climatic conditions, the navi- 
gable waters in commerce, the falls, rapids, and canals, the 
series of lake and river ports with reason for their loca- 
tion, the products shipped back and forth over this trade 
route, and the sources from which they are drawn. This 
exercise in logical thinking in the organization of complex 
material into connected series not only teaches the main 
geographical facts, but explains their meaning and relative 
importance. 

3. In many cases the central thread which binds to- 
gether this large body of varied material is the idea of 
cause and effect. One topic leads of necessity into another, 
and so on to a third and fourth, through a whole series. 
Such a causal idea brings together, into one central topic, 
a body of closely connected facts drawn from several 
sources, — physical, commercial, historical, and industrial. 
Nearly every important geographical unit, when properly 
organized, is just such a combination of diverse elements 
held together by strong causal relations. It is wholly 
artificial and unnatural to isolate these various parts of a 
complex subject from one another and to treat them sepa- 
rately. Isolation, for example, of the physical facts of the 
St. Lawrence system from the commercial, industrial, and 
political geography, gives the facts without cause or rela- 
tion, and out of their proper setting and meaning. 

The virtue of the causal idea lies in the child's perceiv- 
ing that the physical conditions produced, for example, by 
the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River together with 
the other physical facts of this region, have directly influ- 
enced men in their industries, such as lumbering, mining, 
fishing, commerce, etc., also in the location of their cities, 
and in determining the trade routes which are so very im- 



48 NORTH AMERICA 

portant to all the inhabitants of this region. It will not 
do, therefore, to treat the cities and trade routes as dis- 
tinct topics, and the lakes, forests, and surface features 
likewise as isolated topics, without much reference to the 
intimate and organic interdependence among them. 

The political divisions into states and nations form 
larger complex units of study. In the treatment of geog- 
raphy these states and national units have played an im- 
portant part. They have been so much used in maps and. 
descriptions of countries that they have become the most 
convenient means for designating certain areas'. When 
we speak of California or Texas or Maine, of Spain or 
Italy or British India, we designate certain political and 
territorial units more clearly than in any other way. The 
universal usage of books and of educated people has fixed 
these divisions in our language and in our thought, and 
we may ask ourselves what reasons can be assigned for 
their continued use as the titles of important geographical 
topics. 

First, as political units they are important, and when 
synonymous with nationality they have characteristic marks 
which give them importance and distinguish them from 
all others. France, Spain, Italy, and England are not only 
separate political units, but there is in each also a unity of 
life in commerce, language, custom, history, and literature ; 
and, to a large extent, there is even a distinct physiogra- 
phy. Paris, as the capital of France, is the centre of the 
national life, not only in government, but also in commerce, 
manufacturing, education, literature, and fashion. In a 
similar way London and Berlin, Constantinople and Mos- 
cow, are great centres of national life. In short, a nation 
is a large complex unit, and the series of nationalities, such 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 49 

as England, the United States, Russia, China, etc., must 
always constitute a most important series of geographical 
topics. 

It is necessary, therefore, to treat these nationalities or 
political units, in many cases, as separate topics, since they 
form convenient centres around which to collect and group 
a variety of lesser topics. 

Berlin, for instance, the political capital of Germany, 
has become also the commercial and railroad centre of 
the empire. The military system of Germany, so sig- 
nificant in the politics of Europe, is best explained as 
centring in Berlin. Education also has here its admin- 
istrative head, and the great University of Berlin is the 
nucleus of the whole school system. The art treasures 
of Germany, also, find in the museums and galleries at the 
capital their most important collections and schools of 
training. 

This prominence of political units is noticeable at the 
beginning, at the end, and throughout the course of 
geographical study. In the earliest survey of North 
America as a whole, we call the attention, among other 
things, to the three chief political divisions, British 
America, United States, and Mexico ; and the same plan 
will be followed in the study of Europe and other conti- 
nents. Again, in completing the study of any country, we 
combine a multitude of minor topics into one large com- 
plex unit like France or Turkey. The reason for this is 
the fact that our geographical topics are, to a large extent, 
social units, rather than physical or scientific units. A 
nationality like England or Switzerland grasps into one 
thought a great variety of closely related elements, or 
rather it is a cross-section of all the important elements. 



50 NORTH AMERICA 

Geography is a complex study, and not a series of scientific 
units drawn from physiography, meteorology, geology, 
astronomy, and biology. There has been a strong ten- 
dency to treat geography from the standpoint of these 
distinct sciences ; but the important geographical units are 
those which combine all of these, more or less, into a 
single topic of causally connected parts. 

The physiographic topics, like physical structure, geo- 
logical strata and changes, river action, etc., are in much 
danger of standing out in isolation from those industrial, 
political, and social phenomena which form an important 
constituent of most geographic topics. It is claimed, of 
course, that physiography explains so many things broadly, 
on the basis of cause and effect, that its topics must be 
treated first and in full. But it is a pedagogical error 
to explain so many things in a general, more or less abstract 
form, before the children have come in contact with the 
facts which need explaining. The adult and scientific 
mind sees in these great physical causes the explanation 
of a multitude of minor facts, and is greatly interested in 
such a broad survey of causal influences. But the child 
has no such interest because he is incapable of such broad 
generalizations and inferences. In short, it is the imposi- 
tion of the adult standpoint upon the child. 

It seems advisable to begin the study of any important 
region or country by a brief survey of physical and climatic 
conditions. But the important thing, after all, is to bring 
these physical causes into close relation to the special topics 
at the time when they are treated in full. For example, 
when we are discussing the fruit-raising of Florida and 
California, we should enter definitely and fully into the 
physical surroundings and climatic conditions favorable to 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 51 

fruit-growing. The effort to explain all these things by 
anticipation, when dealing with the physiographic fea- 
tures of North America, would be a mistake. Likewise 
in explaining the arid regions of the West, it should be 
done chiefly at the time when irrigation is under full 
treatment, so that the cause and effect upon human life 
and industry may be immediately felt. 

Even the smaller political units expressed by the names 
of our states are of much value, sometimes, because they 
express somewhat distinct physical units, as in the case of 
California, Florida, Illinois, and Maine; or, when formed 
into groups like New England or the Gulf States or the 
Rocky Mountain States, they designate distinct physical 
divisions of country. 

Again, in treating topics like the corn belt, the cotton- 
growing area, the coal-fields, the forest regions, etc., we 
have no way of locating these regions except by states. 
We draw the map of a group of states and locate within 
them the tobacco-growing districts, etc. 

It seems, therefore, that these are important reasons why 
the political divisions into states and countries should con- 
tinue to constitute an important series of geographical 
topics. We may, indeed, drop out a large part of the 
old minutiae of political map studies, such as the names and 
location of the capitals of all the states, the exact bound- 
aries of each separate state, and the drawing of the special 
maps of each. The time thus saved can be better devoted 
to topics which extend through several states, or to those 
topics which are characteristically important in any one 
state or group. 

Nor is it meant by this emphasis of state geography 
that we shall make a miscellaneous catalogue of products 



52 NORTH AMERICA 

for each state, to be memorized by the children. For ex- 
ample, in connection with New York State to learn that it 
produces corn, wheat, grapes, salt, petroleum, lumber, 
apples, dairy products, oysters, farm machinery, garden 
truck, iron goods, and a multitude of other manufactured 
articles. 

In planning the study of any large political unit like 
France, we should consider, not only the physiographic 
and climatic conditions, but we should select for somewhat 
elaborate description a few prominent topics which bring 
out, in a striking way, the pronounced characteristics of the 
people and country. Paris as a centre of art, fashion, and 
amusement, the production of wine, the manufacture of 
silk, give us that small group of topics whose full descrip- 
tion will bring out the pronounced characteristics in city 
and in country life. The architecture, style, and gayety 
of the French capital, and on the other hand, the vineyards, 
peasant life, and sunny fields of the open country, are 
pictured. 

In Germany a quite different series of characteristic 
topics would be selected. The German army and military 
system, with the emperor at its head, the opera, popular 
concerts, and beer-gardens, the Rhine River, the beet-sugar 
industry, and the great iron manufactures on the lower 
Rhine may serve as central topics. 

A few characteristic topics in each country, fully de- 
scribed, give a more distinct notion of the nation as a 
whole than a catalogue of products, industries, etc., such 
as has been customary in our geographies. 

In the real world, outside of school books, we find every 
great geographical topic springing out of complex condi- 
tions. To be understood, it must be studied in its causes 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 53 

and relations to man and to nature. The effort to unravel 
the causal idea hidden in these facts brings out the cen- 
tral influences that are at work in physical geograph}^, in 
commerce, and in history. The outcome is a causal series 
of mutually dependent facts as illustrated above. 

The effort to trace out causes and effects is a source of 
strong interest and of close thinking. It goes far deeper 
into the interpretation of phenomena than the mere learn- 
ing of facts. Especially for the three upper grades, the 
sixth, seventh, and eighth, is the study of causal ideas and 
causal connections a fine stimulus to mental activity. 
Geography furnishes two sets of causal forces, one spring- 
ing from physical nature and the other from man and his 
enterprise. It is quite evident that, by linking together 
and interpreting facts on the basis of cause and effect, a 
much better understanding is gained of the great forces at 
work in the world. 

4. In connection with the causal idea it is easy to set up 
problems for solution which give us the best forms of men- 
tal discipline. In any important topic, when certain facts 
have been presented, interesting questions or problems 
can be set up which require the pupil to combine and 
interpret facts. This is especially true of all the great 
human industries, such as mining, manufacturing, and agri- 
culture. We have as distinctly marked problems in geo- 
graphical study as in arithmetic. For example : Explain 
fully why Pittsburg is an important centre for the iron 
industries. Again : In shipping grain, meat, and heavy 
products from Chicago to Europe, what is the best way of 
getting around Niagara Falls ? What is the best railroad 
route between New York and San Francisco, and why ? 
Which is the best water route from Lake Erie to the 



54 NORTH AMERICA 

Atlantic, the Welland Canal, Lake Ontario, and the St. 
Lawrence River, or the Erie Canal and the Hudson River ? 
What are the advantages and disadvantages of establishing 
cotton factories at Atlanta and Augusta, in the South, as 
compared with those at Lowell and Fall River in Massa- 
chusetts ? How is it possible to get irrigating water from 
rivers up to the level of dry lands which lie considerably 
above the surface of the rivers ? Why has the Colorado 
River deeper and longer canons than any other great river 
in North America ? How can the water in small rivers be 
deepened and made navigable for small steamboats and 
canal-boats? Geography, in all sorts of topics, bristles 
with such interesting questions. The teacher may state 
these problems with sufficient explanation of the condi- 
tions involved, so that the children may think out impor- 
tant results and conclusions. To answer these and similar 
questions the student must gather the facts together and 
organize them, compare and balance different sets of facts, 
and draw important inferences. The student who gets 
into the habit of working out such problems is acquiring 
a certain independence and self-reliance in thinking. 
Moreover, the data for his thinking consist of the undis- 
puted facts, the realities of life, as shown in industrial, 
commercial, and political affairs. There is a very broad 
distinction in geographical study between memorizing 
facts and locations on the one side, and the working out of 
problems on the basis of cause and effect on the other. 
Not only is this a source of stronger interest and better 
thinking, but it binds the ideas together more firmly in the 
memory, and makes such knowledge more serviceable in 
interpreting the world about us. 

A superficial observation of children might suggest that 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 55 

they are chiefly interested in facts, and not in deeper-lying 
causes, but in the last four grades, the fifth, sixth, seventh, 
and eighth, if not sooner, they are naturally inquisitive 
about the reason and cause of things. Unless their school- 
ing has been very poor, they like to probe into these ques- 
tions, and for the skilful teacher here lies the spur to a 
true interest and to a strong effort on their part. In the 
lumber business it is a source of interest to see how the 
logs are gotten out of the woods and brought to the river 
banks in winter, how the skidding roads are skilfully 
laid out for this purpose, why the rivers, in springtime, 
are specially useful, where the sawmills are located and 
why, and how the lumber is distributed to the prairie 
regions. At every step in the movement we meet the 
same problems which the lumberman is compelled to meet 
and solve. This kind of work commands the unbounded 
confidence of children, because it is so real and tangible, 
so true to the conditions of life. 

There are many varieties of geographical topics admit- 
ting of this problem-solving study. In the raising of beet 
roots for sugar we pass from the farm to the factory and 
refinery, thence to commerce and distribution over great 
traffic routes. The same with all other staple agricul- 
tural products in various parts of the world. The study 
of iron mines and the production of raw ore, the shipment 
of ore to the centres of iron manufacture, its treatment in 
•blast furnaces, mills, and factories of all sorts, and the dis- 
tribution of iron machines and products by commerce, — 
all these likewise show the operation of causes, and the 
forethought and ingenuity of men in meeting and solving 
difficult problems. The coal-mines, silver-mines, and other 
metal-producing mines furnish similar problems. 



56 NORTH AMERICA 

The full study of any important topic in geography 
penetrates into the deeper and more important connec- 
tions, not only of geographical facts, but of many facts be- 
longing to other studies which are wrapped up with these. 
For example, in the discussion of the iron industries, the 
sources from which iron and coal and lime are obtained 
touch on geology and mineralogy. The process of smelt- 
ing, a very interesting study, deals with chemistry and 
the effects of heat. Likewise the processes of producing 
steel and wrought iron. Again, the manufacture of iron 
goods, such as wire, steam-engines, agricultural imple- 
ments, bridges, etc., deals with interesting inventions 
touching on history, physics, and chemistry, and various 
phases of geography. This naturally brings up the great 
problem of correlation or interconnection of studies. The 
only point which we wish to emphasize is that of the pres- 
ence of strong causal relations, which bind together the 
different parts of an important topic, and give opportu- 
nity for setting up problems in school work which are in 
fact identical with the problems of business men, manu- 
facturers, shippers, and capitalists in the world of industry 
and trade. 

In any proper treatment of such large geographical 
topics it is impossible to avoid this apparent mixing up of 
studies, but the whole difficulty is solved by the teacher 
who knows how to work out a connected series of points 
necessary to the logical development of a controlling idea 
or process. When such a controlling idea is present in 
the mind of a teacher, all these complex materials are 
brought easily into coherency and unity. 

An example of this connected sequence of topics is the 
section on Physiography of North America. The general 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 57 

growth of the North American continent involves a series 
of topics like the coal period, the mountains, the central 
plain, the great ice age, and the coast line. In its very 
nature this is a historical development from one stage to 
another, the first stage leading to the second, and so on. 
The causal idea is the controlling one, for example, in the 
following series. How the coal strata are formed, — the 
climatic conditions, the vegetation, the rising and sinking 
of the land with reference to the sea level, the swamps, 
and matted vegetation. At every step here we find new 
examples of causes and effects, of conditions and changes, 
leading to positive results. The study of the ice age of 
North America is of the same character. In interpreting the 
history of the great ice sheet, scientists have based their con- 
clusions upon facts and results which can be unmistakably 
traced to their causes. Problems have been met and solved 
at every point in the investigation ; for example, how 
the numerous lakes are formed in Minnesota, how the 
granite bjoulders and drifts were spread out over Illinois 
and other states. In order to teach these topics well, the 
instructor must take the attitude of the investigator, col- 
lect his facts around certain questions, and give the chil- 
dren the chance to draw important inferences for which 
abundant data are furnished. The same strong thread 
of logical and causal sequence which furnishes the back- 
bone of good thinking is found in the treatment of the 
seasons, the winds, the ocean currents, and other topics 
of physical geography. 

When we come to the more definite and limited topics of 
the different sections of the United States, we find that 
there is a special strength and value in tracing the opera- 
tion of causes and in working out the solution of problems. 



58 NORTH AMEBIC A 

For example, the subject of forestry in New England fol- 
lows the same sequence of causal relations which the lum- 
bering industry in Maine presents. The topic on mining 
in the Middle Atlantic States not only reveals the facts in 
regard to the location of coal, iron ore, oil, and gas, and 
the cities where iron manufacturing is carried on, but the 
Avhole movement from the crude ore in the mountains to 
the smelters and manufactories at the centre of iron pro- 
duction (Pittsburg, Birmingham, etc.), the manifold 
forms of iron manufacture and their distribution, — all 
these things are traced out in a necessary sequence. We 
may say, in one sense, that this kind of study is thoroughly 
practical, not simply because it is a true picture of great 
industries, giving real insight into the world around us, 
but because children are thus taught to think and reason, 
logically obedient to the inflexible requirements of nature 
and physical and social conditions. 

This kind of logical consistency and steady coherency 
of thought is illustrated by all the important topics treated 
in the geography of the United States and North America. 

5. Of equal importance with the idea of causal sequence, 
and with the opportunity for problem-setting in following 
causal relations, is the idea of types in geographical study. 
These important units of study which we have described 
as valuable centres around which to collect and organize 
facts, have a still greater value when looked at from the 
standpoint of their typical or representative character. 
If children have obtained a clear understanding of the 
glacial ice sheet in North America, and of its effects on 
soils, rivers, and lakes, it is an easy matter, on the basis of 
this previous study, to explain the similar glacial period 
in Europe, where like causes have produced like results, 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 59 

and so in other parts of the world. Again, if the children 
have studied the great caiion of the Colorado River and 
the causes of this most striking example of the erosive 
power of water, tracing Lack the causes to the location of 
mountain chains, plateaus, and slopes, to winds and rains 
on the mountains, and to the dry climatic conditions of the 
great western plateau ; in short, if they have thoroughly 
understood the causes that have produced the Colorado 
caiion, it will be very easy and interesting for them to 
explain the trough of the upper Mississippi, the valley of 
the Hudson, the gorges of the Rhine and the Danube, the 
Kongo canons on the western rim of Africa, and the great 
gorges of the Brahmaputra and other canon rivers of the 
Himalaya. 

In connection with the gold mining of Colorado the 
children have gained a clear understanding of placer mines 
and of the washing out of gold from the sands, and further 
of the quartz mining, by sinking shafts in the veins of the 
rocks, by means of which the miners penetrate deep into 
the bowels of the earth. They appreciate the difficulties, 
hardships, uncertainties, and expense of these operations. 
Later they see how the ore is crushed to powder in the 
stamp mills, and then shipped in sacks to the great smelt- 
ers at Pueblo and Denver. There the pure gold and sil- 
ver and other metals are extracted and separated from one 
another by heat. The bullion thus produced is shipped 
to the mints and changed into coin, or is sent to the 
factories where gold and silver wares are manufactured. 
If children have traced this great movement from the 
crude ore to the finest products of our factories and stores, 
it will be thereafter a very short matter to explain the 
gold and silver mines of Europe, of South Africa, of 



60 NORTH AMERICA 

Australia, of South America, and to reach an understand- 
ing of their importance in commerce and the industries. 

It would not be difficult to multiply illustrations of geo- 
graphical type-studies in the United States and the rest 
of North America, which furnish a sure basis for a quick 
interpretation of all similar topics in other parts of the 
world. We will merely mention a few of these types to 
show how valuable and rich is this mode of study. Such 
types are corn production, and its relation to cattle and 
meat products, irrigation in the arid regions of the West, 
cotton raising and cotton manufacturing in the South, the 
Mississippi River as a navigable stream, cattle-raising on 
the western plains, fruit-farming in California, Mt, 
Washington and the White Mountains, the Great Lakes, 
cod fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland, the oyster 
fisheries of the Chesapeake, cane sugar in Louisiana and 
Cuba, the City of Mexico, San Francisco as a seaport. 
Salt Lake and the Great Basin, Pike's Peak and the Rocky 
Mountains, the seal fisheries of Alaska, and many others. 
Every one of these topics is important as a centre of study, 
around which a large body of facts may be collected and 
explained, but far beyond this each of these topics consid- 
ered as a type is a means, in the mind of a child, of inter- 
preting quickly a great many important objects of study 
in many parts of the world. The knowledge of such rep- 
resentative topics in American geography furnishes the 
children with a complete outfit for a rapid survey and 
mastery of the rest of the world. The larger amount of 
time thus spent on American geography is more than com- 
pensated by the depth and richness of knowledge gained 
about our country, and by the quickness with which for- 
eign topics can be later interpreted by these type-studies. 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 61 

Each geographical type is in its first treatment very 
individual and concrete. And this concreteness lends 
interest and a strong sense of realism to the study. For 
example, the study of Mt. Washington as a mountain 
resort, with the inns and villages at its foot, the railroad 
to the top, the Summit House, and the views along the 
Presidential range, is full of picturesque and concrete 
realities. They are such as the traveller experiences on 
his journeys. The treatment of geographical topics is 
oftentimes so general and comprehensive that these inter- 
esting details are left out, and is therefore weak and power- 
less to arouse the attention of children. 

But wrapped up in these concrete facts are representa- 
tive or typical ideas which are brought out by the com- 
parison of similar objects. A type-subject is the basis for 
a series of comparisons, which leads oftentimes to a sweep- 
ing general notion which gives comprehensiveness and 
unity to a large body of more or less scattered facts. It 
seems strange how little attention has been paid heretofore 
to the worth of a geographical type. Once understood, it 
is a means of interpreting quickly scores of similar things 
elsewhere. We have been so occupied with memorizing 
bare facts in geography as to forget that the chief purpose 
and value, lay not in memorizing, but understanding the 
facts. The intelligence of children is increased by their 
insight and thqir power to interpret the meaning of things 
rather than by the quantity of names they have memorized. 
If a child understands how an irrigating ditch is constructed 
along one river valley to enrich arid lands, he possesses 
thereby an idea which will speedily interpret to him the 
means by which agriculture is made possible in hundreds 
of places or along hundreds of streams in the western half 



62 NORTH AMERICA 

of the United States. The same is true in India, China, 
in Mexico and South America, and in many other arid 
regions on the borders of the great Saharas of the world. 
Such a type which possesses within itself the power of 
interpreting a multitude of things in many lands is 
educationally of the highest value. By comparison of 
similar rivers or similar cities or mountains, the type-idea 
common to them all springs into view. If we are careful 
to select the best types, and, after treating each one fully, 
to make sufficient comparisons to bring out the variations 
of the type in different countries, we shall acquire a speedy 
insight into the main lines of geographical knowledge. The 
original type, worked out in more complete detail than the 
others, becomes the standard of measurement for a host of 
similar things in later geographical study. The enlarge- 
ment, extension, and variation of a typical idea by means 
of comparisons furnishes the children a good opportu- 
nity for associating similar groups of knowledge ; that is, 
for thinking, reasoning, and organizing knowledge. 

These comparisons, on the basis of fully developed types, 
furnish the most instructive form of review. If in the 
study of the Rhine River, we compare it with the Hudson 
in point of physiography, scenery, cities, commerce, mili- 
tary importance, and historical associations, the children 
will be surprised at the number of striking resemblances. 
For example, both the Rhine and the Hudson have each 
three canals connecting their waters with other navigable 
streams. They bring into comparison tv/o of the chief 
commercial routes of Europe and North America; the 
fortresses and military history of both rivers are famous. 
They are about equally noted for the beauty of their 
scenery. The legendary stories and historical events 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 63 

along the Rhine are matched by the Indian legends, the 
Irving stories, and the historical narratives of Henry 
Hudson and Washington. The differences and contrasts 
come out also in a striking way in these comparisons. 
The delta mouth of the Rhine is in strong contrast 
with the New York harbor and the outlet of the Hud- 
son. The Hudson, though onl}^ about a third as long 
as the Rhine, is deeper and broader and more service- 
able for shipping than the Rhine, because it is a 
drowned valley, into which the tides of the ocean pene- 
trate for many miles. The lofty Alps are in contrast to 
the Adirondacks where the sources of the Hudson lie. 

A comparison of the whole Mississippi with the whole 
St. Lawrence and with the Colorado brings out, with 
remarkable clearness, three of the diverse types of large 
rivers : the Mississippi, navigable throughout its length 
and that of its tributaries, but its mouth obstructed by its 
delta and wide bars of silt ; the St. Lawrence with its series 
of vast lakes in its upper course, wholly different from 
the Mississippi, its middle course obstructed by the Falls 
of Niagara, and its mouth a deep and open estuary of the 
sea; the Colorado with neither lakes nor delta, almost 
unnavigable, and with a series of caiions like nothing either 
along the Mississippi or St. Lawrence. Such comparisons 
bring out with remarkable distinctness the singularities, as 
well as the common features of great rivers. This review by 
comparison of old topics with new is vigorous and stimu- 
lating to thought. It throws new light upon old facts and 
interprets swiftly new things. It groups and consolidates 
geographical materials along essential lines. 

The question naturally arises whether such types cover 
the whole field of geographical study, and whether such a 



64 NORTH AMERICA 

series of studies does not leave a child's knowledge frag- 
mentary and incomplete. In the first place there is great 
variety of type studies, and there are, as noticed above, sev- 
eral distinct types of rivers. There are tidal rivers, like the 
Hudson, the Thames, the St. Lawrence, etc. ; there are the 
delta rivers like the Rhine, the Mississippi, the Ganges, 
the Nile, and others ; there are caiion rivers like the Col- 
orado, Brahmaputra, and the Kongo ; navigable rivers, like 
the Mississippi, Yangtse, and Amazon; there are the rivers 
noted for water-power like the Merrimac, the Upper Mis- 
sissippi, and the rivers of Maine. 

Again, there are various types of cities, as, for example, 
the commercial centres, Chicago, New York, and Liver- 
pool ; centres for government, like Washington, Berlin, 
and Rome ; centres for manufactories, like Pittsburg, Man- 
chester, and Lyon. Each of these is typical of the group 
to which it belongs. So, also, in other geographical topics, 
mountains, lakes, industries, deserts, trade routes, oceans, 
winds, continents, etc., through all the list of geographical 
facts, it is easy to group under the head of various leading 
types. 

And yet it is somewhat difficult to make a selection of 
leading types which will cover completely that general 
body of knowledge which belongs to geography. There 
is some danger that in dcA^oting a large amount of time to 
the study of a few types many important things will be 
omitted. Of course, it is impossible to treat all the im- 
portant cities, rivers, occupations, and regions of country 
with such fulness as marks the type studies, and it is 
necessary in some way to make good this deficiency. It 
is hardly worth while to memorize the names and loca- 
tions of a dozen or more cities in each of the forty-five 



ANB OTHER CONTINENTS ^^ 

states, and yet it is desirable to name and locate a half- 
dozen of the chief lake ports, as Duluth, Milwaukee, Chi- 
cago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto, and to give 
the reasons for their importance. 

To supplement and complete the work with types we 
need comprehensive surveys, reviews, and drills. Other- 
wise the types stand isolated and unrelated to one another, 
and large bodies of important facts seem to be overlooked. 
Every important type study, before it reaches completion, 
should bring within the circle of its discussion the whole 
body of facts which is typified by it. For example, in 
treating the sugar beet industry (see Index) in this coun- 
try or in Germany, we should discuss the agricultural 
methods employed on a sugar beet farm, the processes of 
extracting the sugar in the factories and of refining, the 
shipment of the product to its consumers even in foreign 
lands, the location and extent of beet sugar production in 
Germany, France, and other European countries, also in 
the United States. In Cuba and the Hawaiian Islands, 
and in the Southern states, the cane sugar production 
should be compared with that of beet sugar, with respect 
to its relative importance and methods. The production 
of maple sugar in the hardwood forests of New England 
and the Northern states should be compared also with the 
other forms of sugar production. In this w^ay the whole 
broad field of sugar production in all parts of the world in 
its relations to agriculture, manufacturing, and commercial 
routes can be worked out into a large, connected complex 
of facts. 

As we move forward in geographical studies these great 
units become more complex and comprehensive. The Mis- 
sissippi Valley, for example, embraces more than half the 



66 JSfOBTH AMERICA 

territory of the United States in one of these great units, 
and it again is capable of being compared with other large 
river valleys of the world, and the comparison leads up to 
still broader generalizations. The continent of North 
America is another still larger unit, still more complex and 
various than the Mississippi Valley, and capable of being 
compared likewise with other continents. In fact, all the 
great geographical topics tend to unify themselves in a 
few very large types, but something seems still lacking to 
that thoroughness of knowledge which the good school- 
master insists upon. 

6. To secure this more complete mastery and connec- 
tion of facts in geography, there is great value in oral 
drills, both for the class as a whole, and for individuals. 
Large wall maps are of special use. With such maps, 
and a pointer in his hand, the teacher can give rapid oral 
drills upon cities, rivers, countries, peninsulas and bays, 
mountains and political divisions, in fact, upon all the 
leading points in geography. Many of these facts range 
themselves in great series along traffic routes, river courses, 
or coast lines, or they may be traced along parallel lines 
of latitude or along great mountain chains. It is an easy 
matter to arouse strong enthusiasm and a vigorous class 
spirit in these oral drills. 

When new and difficult geographical names are pro- 
nounced, first by the teacher, and then in concert by the 
class and singly by pupils, they are very quickly fastened 
in the memory. Much more can be accomplished in a 
short time by vigorous drills in the class than by long 
periods of seat study. Such drills as these can be thrown 
in at odd moments almost daily in geographical work, and 
they give variety and interest to geographical study. 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 67 

Without such drills it is almost certain tliat many of the 
commonest names and facts will not be well mastered. The 
children may not know how to pronounce the new names, 
and if they learn them at all at their seat study they are 
apt to learn them wrong. Children will get much detailed 
knowledge from special type studies, but they fail to ac- 
quire that ready mastery and comprehensive grasp which 
nothing but drill exercise is likely to give. These drills 
fill in, to a large extent, the necessary facts lying between 
the larger types, and give that mastery of geography in its 
usual setting which makes it practical. 

7. In the treatment of the tojjics worked out in the text- 
books there are several ways in which the teacher may 
strengthen and reenforce the text-book lessons. In the 
assignment of lessons in the book, it is well for the teacher 
to consider carefully how to open up the subject in such 
a way that the assignment of the lesson itself becomes 
something of a revelation of interesting problems and 
questions dealt with in the book. Merely to assign a 
number of paragraphs or pages in a book is insipid, but if 
the teacher calls attention to what they have been study- 
ing, and shows how it leads up to the following topics, 
recalls some familiar experience or knowledge of the chil- 
dren, shows how the lesson will be helped by a proper 
study of maps, or by examining certain pictures, or by 
reading some book of reference, a strong stimulus is given 
to the study of a lesson. With many children the victory 
is half won. The purpose that underlies all this is not 
to give excessive help to the children, thus reducing their 
own self-activity and independent effort, but rather to 
stimulate to stronger effort, to thoughtful study, to an 
independent use of books and materials. A great deal 



68 NORTH AMEBIC A 

depends upon the teacher's knowing how to assign a lesson 
properly. 

It is generally admitted that there are several important 
ways by which the knowledge contained in the text-books 
should be enlarged upon in class discussion. This may be 
done by the presentation of additional facts by the teacher, 
by the use of geographical readers, guide-books, and books 
of travel by the children, and by collecting illustrative 
pictures, maps, and magazine articles from various sources. 
Most successful teachers of geography use all these 
methods of awakening the children to thoughtfulness and 
independent use of sources. It might seem that the text- 
books are so full of material on important topics that not 
much of this sort needs to be added, and certain it is that 
the text-book lessons should be the nuclei around which this 
additional material is clustered, and to which it is made 
contributary. But there is one inevitable deficiency in 
text-book work which the teacher alone can make good. 
This deficiency lies in the meagreness of the concrete and 
illustrative details of each subject. If children wish to 
know how a canal lock works, how iron is smelted in a 
blast furnace, how the jetties for deepening the mouth of 
the Mississippi are constructed, how the water-power of a 
river is applied to a mill-wheel, how an irrigating ditch is 
constructed, how gold is gotten out of a mine, and scores 
of other similar problems, they will not find them explained 
in text-books. Yet these may be the very meatiest parts 
of the lesson. Nor can we throw the blame for this defect 
upon the text-books. It would be impossible for text- 
books to contain such material. It lies with the teacher 
and the children to work these things out in the class-room 
on the basis of the text-book work. This implies, of 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 69 

course, that the teacher, as well as the children, must have 
some time for the reading of geographical readers and 
other reference books. 

Among other things the teacher must possess skill in 
the clear and graphic presentation of these additional facts 
and illustrations. Simplicity and clearness of statement 
stand first. The constant use of the blackboard for mak- 
ing diagrams and plans of cities, for drawing canals, 
machmes, and tools, for showing the courses of winds and 
ocean currents, for exhibiting the processes in the manu- 
facturing industries, for the illustration by blocks and 
squares of the comparative statistics of products, etc., — 
the use of all these devices for graphic representation of 
facts should constitute a good part of the teacher's skill. 
These things are useful in almost every topic treated in 
geography. If the teacher has learned how to use them 
freely and easily, the children also will fall quickly into the 
same modes of expressing ideas, and will develop the same 
kind of power. Let the teacher encourage them and re- 
quire it of them. 

This kind of skill and power on the teacher's part may 
be traced back to definite causes as follows. 

(1) The close observation of many common things in his 
own neighborhood, such as various modes of cultivating 
plants, the treatment of stock, the devices and processes 
and machinery employed in manufacturing, in shops and 
stores, the construction of buildings, plans, materials, 
and tools, in short the various activities and phenomena 
in the world of human affairs and in the realm of physical 
nature about him. There are very few of these things 
which, if closely viewed and understood, will not be found 
later of great use in clearing up geographical ideas. No 



70 ■ NORTH AMERICA 

text-book can furnish this kind of knowledge. It must 
be gotten at first-hand by each person, in blacksmith shops, 
gardens, factories, founderies, hothouses, quarries, fields, 
storms, homes, travels, and various kinds of daily 
experience. 

(2) The teacher must know how to appeal to similar 
experiences gained by the children by their own observa- 
tions. It is not probable that any teacher will overdo this 
matter of concrete illustration of geographical topics by 
appealing to the children's home experiences. The work 
of home geography, especially by the variety of excursions 
in the home neighborhood, is designed to supply an 
abundance of this varied experience. Both teacher and 
pupils need to continue these lines of direct observation 
throughout the years of the school course. 

(3) The ready use of sketching and map-drawing 
by the teacher lends great power. Many topics require 
local maps drawn to a large scale, such as the harbors 
of cities, a special river basin or flood plain, the delta of 
the Mississippi with its jetties, an irrigation stream and 
canal, the plan of a city or local mining district or lumber 
camp. It is very important that the teacher be able to 
sketch such local maps quickly and neatly. In addition 
to this children should learn to sketch the maps of states 
or countries, river basins, mountain systems, and conti- 
nents quickly and correctly as to general proportions, yet 
without painful accuracy in small details. In two or 
three minutes a child should be able to put the map of the 
Ohio Valley or even of the Mississippi Valley on the black- 
board, likewise the map of South America or Africa ; 
but no class of children will ever accomplish this unless 
the teacher gives the example of ready proficiency. 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 71 

With as little waste of time as may be, children should 
learn to draw on the board from memory all sorts of maps 
correct in general outline and proportion. A brief exami- 
nation and discussion in class of the book map with respect 
to the general outline and proportions will help greatly in 
the first attempt to draw any map. If the teacher will 
sketch it quickly before the children, they will readily grasp 
the method of execution. It is not necessary that much time 
be spent in getting results approximately correct. Maps 
should be regarded as a mode of expressing the children's 
ideas to which they resort as freely as to the words of lan- 
guage. There are a great many things in geographical 
study which can be expressed by drawings and sketches 
better than by language. These various ways of acquir- 
ing skill in the presentation of ideas should be steadily 
cultivated by the teacher. They imply open-minded, 
progressive intelligence at every step. It is in these 
things that the inventiveness and originality of the 
teacher are furnished full scope. 

8. Children should learn to study and master their les- 
sons for themselves. There are several ways in which they 
can be thrown upon their own resources and taught to mas- 
ter difficulties by themselves. The lesson assigned in the 
book should be strictly required of them. The topics pre- 
sented by the teacher also, during the recitation, should be 
called for again from the children ; and in both of these cases 
without much questioning. Children should recite their les- 
sons in continuous discourse, in no way slavishly bound to 
the language of the book, but with free and connected ex- 
pression. If the subject falls into important topics, the mere 
mention of a topic should be enough to bring a full state- 
ment from the pupil. Teachers oftentimes weaken and 



72 NORTH AMERICA 

destroy the best work of the pupils by asking too many 
questions and by helping the children with little sugges- 
tions. The topics which the children have gathered from 
reference books they should be able to answer for, thus 
acquiring independence of thought and language. A 
teacher should never forget that the final worth and out- 
come of a lesson is what the children get out of it and can 
express about it. If the children are not held to a rigid 
account by requiring a full and adequate statement of facts 
in every lesson, they do not gain power. 

In a subject like geography there is danger that the 
teacher may fall into a habit of much talking and explain- 
ing. The subject is interesting and admits of infinite 
enlargement, and the teacher who is well equipped is 
probably tempted to pour out of the abundance of his 
knowledge. But when the teacher has done his duty by 
clear and simple presentation of a topic, he should keep 
silence while the pupils give proof of their understanding. 
Nothing can take the place in good oral lessons of the 
teacher's own careful and complete statement of the topics. 
But he should not keep on talking and questioning when 
the pupil's work begins. To test the real effectiveness of 
his instruction the teacher may give every week or two a 
written review or test upon a few topics. This is the 
most searching of all tests of the pupil's mastery of the 
subject and of the teacher's method. Defects in spelling 
and language and in thought which do not appear in oral 
recitations are made distinct and notable. 

9. In all geographies great importance is assigned to 
review exercises by which the facts are fixed in the mind 
by repetition. The text-books, indeed, provide usually 
for a systematic repetition of the same topics two or 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 73 

three times during the school course. The repetition 
and enlargement of topics on this plane leads to a better 
mastery and a more thorough retention of the facts. This 
plan of review has been worked out completely in the 
Tarr and McMurry series. The briefer outline of topics 
for North America and the rest of the world in the First 
Book is enlarged and worked out to completeness in the 
later text. A systematic comparison closes the series. 

The frequent oral drills emphasized above also conduce 
to this fluent mastery of important facts, and bring a varied 
mass of materials under quick and comprehensive survey. 
A still more valuable principle of review has been fully 
explained and illustrated under comparisons in type 
studies, where each new topic is made a basis of review 
for similar topics previously studied. Such comparisons, 
for example of the cities of Europe with cities of the 
United States previously studied, bring out more clearly 
the significant facts in both the old and the new. A com- 
parison of the areas of the European countries with that of 
the United States, or of populations, or of mountains or 
river valleys, is a much more telling method of fixing and 
emphasizing the facts to be learned, than the method of 
memorizing or repeating the facts in each case without com- 
parison. These comparisons, as already shown, on the basis 
of similarity and contrast, bring about a consolidation and 
grouping of geographical objects into a few large classes 
which are easily surveyed. This method of comparison 
makes it necessary for the teacher to know and keep in 
mind all the subjects which the children have previously 
studied. But onty in this way can the different parts of 
the child's knowledge, gained from year to year, be con- 
solidated and properly classified. 



74 NOBTB AMERICA 

An examination of the series will reveal a plan of sys- 
tematic review by comparison. The topics of home geog- 
raphy need to be reviewed and incorporated into similar 
topics in the treatment of the United States. Many of 
the subjects discussed in the latter connection are also pre- 
sented in the study of the world whole, and the recalling 
of the previous studies as a preparation is of advantage. 

In the presentation of topics on Europe and other coun- 
tries, a reproduction of related subjects in North America 
is frequently made and the close similarity traced out. 
This plan brings the geography of all parts of the world 
into interesting connection with the United States, and 
with those things most familiar to one's experience and 
study at home. In this way all geography study becomes, 
in the end, an interpretation of American occupations, 
ideas, and physical surroundings, and we end where we 
began, with home objects and interests. At the same time, 
all foreign and distant objects are measured and estimated 
upon these familiar standards of the home, and are thus 
better understood. 

If we add to this method of comparison the idea of 
constantly illustrating new topics by means of home expe- 
riences drawn from the neighborhood, we shall bring all 
parts of a child's experience of this subject info a closer 
connection and unity. It is hardly possible to overdo 
this phase of geographical study. The whole movement, 
from the home neighborhood outward, making the con- 
crete local experiences the foundation upon which all later 
structures are built, is a gradual movement toward larger 
and more complex units. They are similar, however, to 
those smaller or simpler units which are studied in the 
home. This movement from the home outward is in con- 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 75 

trast to the idea of beginning with the world whole, and by 
successive analyses, of coming dawn to the smaller parts. 
We have already suggested that a brief survey of the world 
whole, with the. continents and oceans, should be given in 
the first year of geographical study ; but the chief move- 
ment is synthetic and advances outward from the familiar 
and simple to that which is more complex and distant or 
extensive. 

The design of this brief world survey is to give to the 
child a ready bird's-eye view of the whole field of geogra- 
phy. With this in mmd he need never feel, in his future 
stud}^ that he is lost, groping about without chart or com- 
pass in unknown regions. 

But the great onward movement in geography study is 
synthetic and constructive, building up step by step a 
solid structure of real knowledge. It advances steadily 
outward from the familiar and simple, to that which is 
more complex and extensive. 

The various methods of review, by repetition, by writ- 
ten tests, by oral drills, by comparison, and by constant 
appeal to the child's own experience and previous knowl- 
edge, are the various modes by which a child's gradually 
expanding knowledge shall be strengthened, consolidated, 
organized, and made effective in the interpretation of the 
world. 

10. There are certain dangers and faults which need to 
be guarded against in geographical studies. 

(1) The mere memorizing of places and their locations 
without a study of causes and reasons. 

(2) The memorizing of the words of a book with- 
out much thoughtfulness as to the value of the things 
learned. 



76 NORTH AMERICA 

(3) The abstract rather than the concrete and illustra- 
tive treatment of topics. 

(4) The lack of close connection and steady coherency 
of the facts treated in any topic. 

(5) The failure to use maps, to make them concrete 
and real rather than purely formal and symbolic. 

On the basis of the topics previously worked out in the 
geography of North America, we will add a few illustra- 
tions of the close connection of American topics with those 
of Europe and of other countries. These will show the 
significance of large units, of types, of review by compari- 
son and of causal relations. 

Coal and iron in Great Britain and the industries based 
upon the production of these raw materials. 

I. By a reference to the treatment of Great Britain 
(for pages see Index) we notice that the ability to under- 
stand about coal and iron is based upon the previous full 
treatment of this subject in the United States. The 
teacher, therefore, who is teaching this should make a care- 
ful study of this earlier part of the text. Also that on the 
Coal Period in the chapter on the Physiography of North 
America, that found in the summary which deals with coal 
and iron production in the United States, and finally that 
found in the chapter on Physiography of Europe. 

The facts which have been previously learned about this 
subject will all be needed by the children before they get 
through with the discussion of English coal and iron indus- 
tries, and without them they cannot understand, the sub- 
ject in England. For example, in the treatment of North 
America a full description is given how coal was formed 
in the earth, how a mine is planned as a means for secur- 
ing coal, how the different kinds of coal are obtained, and 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 77 

how coke ovens are built to prepare coke for the blast fur- 
naces. Then follows the description of a blast furnace 
and how the pig iron thus produced is used in iron manu- 
facturing. Still further in the discussion of American 
iron, the iron mines are described, the great docks along 
the lakes for shipping iron ore, and the central points of 
manufacture by blast furnaces, etc., explained. None of 
these topics are treated in detail in the topic on English 
coal and iron, yet these special features are what give the 
interesting and instructive facts and ideas for children. 

The children have already had the full description of 
these peculiarities of iron and coal production in the United 
States, and it would be tedious to go through with a full 
account of them a second time for England. They simply 
need to recall the chief facts, and to interpret the great 
industries of England, of a similar character, on the basis 
of this previously gained information. This throws the 
children back upon their own resources and compels them 
to use their memory and their reasoning powers in inter- 
preting a similar great industry under somewhat new or 
changed conditions. It may prove necessary for the chil- 
dren studying England to examine for themselves their 
maps and text-books previously studied in the geography 
of the United States, and this may be suggested in the 
assignment of the lesson. 

For children to study the coal and iron industries of 
Great Britain without reference to similar studies in the 
United States shows a curious blindness in teachers, 
especially a blindness as to how new knowledge is 
interpreted. 

11. After the principal facts in connection with coal and 
iron in England have been brought out by study and 



78 NOBTH AMERICA 

class-work, it may be well to institute a definite compari- 
son of the coal areas and coal production in England and 
in the United States. The coal maps for Great Britain and 
the United States form a fair basis for such a comparison. 

The children will be able from a few questions to see 
how much more extensive is the coal area in the United 
States than that of Great Britain. . Then compare in 
regard to population and position the large cities of Great 
Britain which are centres of coal and iron business with 
those of the United States. The great series of lake ports, 
river ports, and sea ports are thus brought into striking 
relation to the English centres of coal and iron trade. 
Such comparisons as these open up to children some very 
interesting and suggestive lines of thought, and, at the 
same time, incidentally give a fine review of the names, 
importance, and location of cities. 

III. What advantage is it to England to have a large 
production of coal and iron ? 

England requires coal and iron for her great manufac- 
turing industries, as well as for ordinary uses of coal for 
fuel. But England, on account of her extensive shipping 
with all parts of the world, needs great numbers of vessels 
(both war and merchant ships), which are now mostly 
built of iron and propelled by steam. It requires vast 
quantities of coal to supply the steamships of England, 
which ply to all parts of the world. England's large coal 
fields are by the seashore or close to it, as at New Castle 
and Swansea, Liverpool, etc. The wealth of England 
depends chiefly upon her manufacturing and commerce, 
and in both of these coal and iron are of the greatest value. 
The coal fields of the United States lie mostly inland, 
yet within easy reach of New York and Philadelphia, and 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 79 

near to the lake and river ports, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Erie, 
Chicago, St. Louis, etc. 

IV. Why should a small country like Great Britain 
produce almost as much coal and iron as a large country 
like the United States ? This question may imply a degree 
of historical knowledge which makes it impossible for the 
children to answer in any full manner. By question or 
by direct statement of the teacher it may be well to touch 
on the following points. Great Britain is a much older 
state than ours, and it had extensive manufacturing indus- 
tries long before such industries were established in 
America. The population of Great Britain is very large 
as compared with the size of the country, and it has as 
many people engaged in coal and iron industries as the 
United States. Much of the United States is only recently 
settled, and there has not been time yet to develop much 
manufacturing in the new states. In the last few years 
the iron and coal production has grown rapidly in the 
United States. It is likely that these industries in the 
United States will outgrow those of Great Britain. Does 
the United States furnish much coal for steamships upon 
the ocean ? 

V. In the further study of the coal and iron industries 
in the other countries of Europe and in other parts* of the 
world, not much will be said except to compare them with 
Great Britain and the United States in this kind of pro- 
duction. The German Empire stands next to England in 
these industries, and Austria third among European states. 

The less civilized parts of the world have made but 
little use of coal and have little production of iron and 
iron manufactures. 

VI. This method of studying the coal and iron Indus- 



80 NORTH AMERICA 

tries of Great Britain is mainly a method of review and 
comparison. It brings out with great clearness the lead- 
ing facts, both for Great Britain and for the United States, 
and shows that like results are produced by like causes in 
very different and widely separated countries. Such com- 
parisons as that instituted above not only review all 
the- important facts in both countries, but by similarity 
and contrast throw them into a peculiar distinctness. 
Topics that have been reviewed in this way will hardly 
need any other form of set review. Indeed, if children 
and teachers were accustomed to draw their previous 
knowledge constantly into review by comparison with new 
topics, taken up in progressive studies, it seems that formal 
or set reviews for mere repetition would be wholly unnec- 
essary. The whole tendency of such reviews by compari- 
son is to consolidate all a child's ideas on a subject like 
coal and iron into one connected body of knowledge. 

The Mississippi compared with other rivers. 

An excursion to the top of the bluffs that border the 
Mississippi River at Winona, Minnesota, may be used to 
illustrate the relation of the local topography and com- 
merce to similar topics in the later study of the United 
States and of foreign countries. 

1. The author has made this trip with a class to the 
summit of the bluff's, six hundred feet above the river. 
The valley between the bluffs of Wisconsin and Minne- 
sota at this point is about four miles wide, and the bluffs 
on both sides are forest-covered, except where a steep 
rocky cliff or limestone stratum stands out in plain view. 
The bottom lands are partly swampy and forest-covered, 
partly occupied by open fields and farms. 

From the edge of the western bluff, at Winona, one can 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 81 

look up and down the river many miles, and see the reced- 
ing line of cliffs, fading into blue, fifteen or twenty miles 
toward the north, and rising in mountainlike peaks toward 
the south. The great trough at one's feet is from four 
to seven miles wide, and six hundred feet below the 
level of the prairie and woodlands on either side of the 
river. The narrow course of the stream, like a silver 
ribbon, can be traced as it winds back and forth across 
the lowlands. 

An occasional steamboat can be seen passing up or 
down the river, stopping at the levee at Winona to unload 
and take on goods. It passes under the high bridge that 
crosses to the Wisconsin side from Winona. More often 
still the railroad trains are seen at the foot of the bluffs, 
speeding their way up and down the valley on both sides 
of the river. It is quite evident, from the number of trains, 
that the railroads carry by far the greater quantity of 
goods as compared with the steamboats. 

The chimneys and stacks of the big sawmills and plan- 
ing-mills, with their immense piles of lumber, are seen 
close by the river, and a rafting steamer may be observed 
at times, guiding a large log raft down the stream. The 
logs come from the pineries of Wisconsin. 

The city of Winona is built on a long bed of sand, only 
about ten feet or less above the river at high water. The 
city extends five or six miles up and down the bank of 
the river, but only half or three fourths of a mile in 
width. Wagon roads lead up and down the valley, and 
also climb through the little valleys to the prairie regions 
beyond the bluffs, bringing the produce of the farms. 
One railroad passes westward from Winona, through a 
winding valley, and after fifteen or twenty miles of steep 



82 NOBTH AMERICA 

grades, reaches the prairie lands six hundred feet above 
Winona. 

On both sides of the river we can see, in the rocky slopes 
of the bluffs, a strip of limestone in which the quarries 
for securing building stone are found. One bluff, the 
Sugar Loaf, is almost effaced by quarries. 

For several miles back from the face of the bluffs, the 
country is hilly and broken, being deeply cut up by the 
lateral valleys and gulches reaching back from the river, 
and leading to the uplands. But in many places the level 
country at the top of the bluffs is covered with grain- 
fields which are continued away westward for hundreds 
of miles. 

The children may observe all the things we have men- 
tioned, and many more, in the course of one or two excur- 
sions to these prominent points of view. The stratified 
rock appearing at like elevation on opposite sides of the 
river suggest that the stream in the course of ages has 
worn out this huge trough, and carried the waste seaward. 

2. It will not be specially difficult, on the basis of such 
observations as those indicated above, to lead the children 
of Winona on an imaginary trip up the Mississippi to St. 
Paul and Minneapolis, and down to St. Louis and Cairo, 
and to give them a tolerably correct idea of the valley for 
a thousand miles of its upper navigable course. The river 
throughout this whole distance is lined with bluffs from 
two to six hundred feet high, and furnishes in summer 
time a steamboat trip with a great variety of imposing, 
beautiful views. The large rivers entering through broad 
deep valleys from either side swell the current of the great 
stream till it is a mile in width. The prosperous cities 
along its course are sometimes in the valley close down by 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 88 

the river, in other cases rising npon the sloping hills and 
bluffs in commanding position. 

The commerce of the river by steamboat, the rafting 
and lumber business, the trunk railroad lines up and down 
the valley for nearly the whole distance, can be interpreted 
and understood by the children from their observations at 
Winona. 

3. We will suppose now, on the basis of these studies 
and observations, that children have gained a fairly good 
understanding of this extended valley for a thousand miles. 

With a brief description of the Ohio River from Pitts- 
burg to Cairo as a preparation, a short comparison of the 
Upper Mississippi with the Ohio will bring out striking 
similarities. The Ohio is also navigable for nearly a 
thousand miles to Pittsburg. As far as Louisville it is 
lined with high bluffs that are almost mountainous in its 
upper course. Steamboats pass up and down this whole 
distance, and railroads follow the valley on both sides much 
of the weij. It has even larger and a greater number of 
important cities than the Upper Mississippi. Tributary 
rivers come down to meet the Ohio through deep valleys. 
All those points can be readily grasped and understood on 
the basis of the earlier knowledge of the Mississippi. The 
contrasts are also worth noticing. The Ohio rises in the 
mountains, the Mississippi springs from a lake-studded low 
plateau. The falls, water-power, flour-mills and sawmills 
at Minneapolis are quite different from the iron-mills and 
glass factories at Pittsburg. 

In a similar way the course of the Missouri may be 
studied and compared with the Upper Mississippi. The 
sources of the Missouri in the wonderland of the Rocky 
Mountains, with deep gorges, mountain lakes, and snowy 



84 NORTH AMERICA 

peaks, is in strong contrast to the lake and forest region 
of northern Minnesota. Later still, the broad alluvial 
flood plain of the Lower Mississippi can be contrasted with 
the narroAver, bluff -lined valley of the Upper Mississippi, 
and the striking difference in climate, vegetation, people, 
and cities brought out. 

In these three comparisons we see that this first pan- 
oramic view of the Upper Mississippi becomes a standard of 
measurement by which we interpret and judge other parts 
of this broad basin of the whole Mississippi River. 

Later still, when the St. Lawrence is studied in its course 
through the Great Lakes, and over Niagara Falls, and on to 
the sea, the contrasts with the Mississippi are remarkable. 
The upper course of the latter has no lakes of consequence 
compared with those of the St. Lawrence, which, in its 
upper course, is lost in fresh-water seas. The cataract of 
Niagara is like nothing on the Mississippi except the falls 
at the head of navigation at Minneapolis. The Mississippi 
in its lower course is full of silt with which to build and 
extend the great marshy delta. The clear water of the 
St. Lawrence is without silt, produces no delta, but has 
instead a deep, broad estuary at its mouth, into which 
the tides of the ocean pour. The Mississippi is loaded 
with mud and its mouth is obstructed with delta and 
broad sand-bars. An explanation of the reasons for this 
difference will bring out with marked distinctness the 
character of the two streams. 

Children who have lived along the Upper Mississippi may 
grasp with some vividness the striking difference between 
the Upper Mississippi and the caiion river of the Colorado. 
Its walls rise almost -ten times as high as the bluffs at 
Winona, and the valley is much narrower. Show this 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 85 

contrast by two relief sketches drawn to the same scale 
on the blackboard. In other points, too, the two rivers 
are notable for their contrasts in point of navigation, 
climate, cities and people, scenery and sources. 

Again, a comparison of the Upper Mississippi with the 
Hudson will help greatly to interpret the strong features 
of that most interesting river. 

With the clearly defined ideas of river valleys gained by 
this comparison of the Mississippi with other American 
rivers, the children are prepared to examine the rivers 
of Europe and other continents with sharp appreciation 
of their meaning and character. 

The Rhine and the Danube and the Volga will be dis- 
covered repeating the qualities already seen in American 
rivers. The delta, the commerce, and the scenery of the 
Rhine wdll remind them of the Upper Mississippi and the 
Hudson. The Danube is about the length of the Upper 
Mississippi from its source to Cairo. Its commerce and 
cities may be compared in size and importance with those 
of the Upper Mississippi. 

In the still later study of the Yangtse River in China 
and of the Kongo in Africa, children find that both these 
rivers are of about the same length as the main stream of 
the Mississippi from Itasca Lake to the sea. For purposes 
of navigation the Yangtse is one of the chief rivers of the 
world, and a comparison of the modes of river boating in 
China with steamboating on the Mississippi is one of the 
best ways of showing the contrast of Chinese and American 
life and modes of travel. 

The Kongo, like the Mississippi, drains a rich, thickly 
populated valley, but its navigation not much above 
100 miles from its mouth is obstructed for 250 miles 



86 NORTH AMERICA 

by rapids and falls, made by the descent of the river down 
the mountain side of Western Africa. Until twenty-five 
years ago these difficulties to navigation completely shut 
out all travellers from Central Africa. Stanley explored 
this part of the river, and opened up a traffic route to the 
interior, which led to the establishment of the Kongo 
Free State. 

A comparison of the unobstructed navigation of the 
Mississippi with that of the Kongo, and of the effects in 
each case, is very instructive. 

We will only suggest a comparison of the Nile and the 
Amazon with the Mississippi, showing how the greatest 
valleys of the world agree and differ in climatic condition, 
productiveness, population, commerce, and development of 
resources. 

This brief study of rivers, showing the movements from 
the home outward, illustrates, in a simple, practical way, 
several of the most important ideas in geographical study, 
as follows : — 

(1) A vivid concrete basis in the child's direct expe- 
rience. 

(2) A gradual extension of these home observations so 
as to grasp clearly a large unit like the Upper Mississippi, 
and eventually the whole Mississippi Valley. 

(3) The standardizing of the Mississippi Valley and its 
parts so as to make them units of measurement for defining 
the size and character of other American rivers and later 
of rivers in other lands. 

(4) The emphasis by similarity and contrast of the 
striking features of important rivers. 

(5) The constant review and use of all a child's previous 
knowledge of rivers in these comparisons. 



ANB OTHER CONTINENTS 87 

(6) The classification of all rivers as to their physical 
and commercial importance into a few large groups or 
types. 

An examination of the subject-matter of Tarr and Mc- 
Murr}^ geographies will show that they contain the sub- 
stance of knowledge necessary to these comparative studies. 
But the success with which this is carried out depends 
upon the teacher. It is necessary that he should con- 
stantly look backward over the field of previous studies 
Avith this class of children, and select those rivers (or 
cities or mountains, etc.) which are of special value as 
interpreters or as familiar standards of measurement. 
The instructor in such cases must be more than a mere 
grade teacher, and must compass in his thought the whole 
course of geographical studies. 

In a similar way other important topics can be traced 
through the whole series from home geography to North 
America, Europe, and the rest of the world. For example, 
a county seat in Indiana may be taken as the starting-point 
in local geography illustrating a centre for government 
and trade. Such a series as this might follow : Indian- 
apolis, Chicago, Washington, New York, New Orleans, San 
Francisco, London, Rome, Constantinople, Berlin, Cal- 
cutta, etc. 

Again, the fisheries upon some local river may be ex- 
tended in a series including the lake fisheries, the cod 
fisheries, the salmon fisheries of the Columbia, the oyster 
fisheries of the Chesapeake, the seal fisheries of Alaska, etc. 

The Philippines. 

In the study of the Philippines we have a chance to test 
the value of comparing far away and unfamiliar things 
with those well known at home. 



88 NORTH AMERICA 

For Illinois children, we may ask, How large is the 
whole of the Philippines as compared with the state of 
Illinois? By an examination of a map of the world, we 
can form some sort of estimate, but for an accurate compari- 
son we must examine the tables of areas. The area of the 
Philippine Islands is given as 114,326 square miles, that of 
Illinois about 56,630, or about one-half the size of the 
Philippines. By frequent discussion and map studies the 
children in Illinois are more familiar with Illinois than 
with any other large area that could be used as a standard. 
In comparing the population we find the Philippines with 
7,000,000 as against 3,826,000 'in Illinois. We conclude 
that the islands are about as thickly populated as Illinois. 

Again, How far are the Philippines from the equator ? 
How far is Illinois ? By an examination of a world map, 
we find that the middle point of the islands, from north to 
south, is about ten degrees north of the equator, while the 
centre of Illinois is about forty degrees north of the equa- 
tor. In other words the Philippines are thirty degrees 
nearer the equator than central Illinois. How many miles 
is this? The schoolboys will quickly figure this up as 
2080 miles, as based on 69|- miles to the degree. 

What difference in climate is this difference in latitude 
likely to bring ? What difference in production ? 

If we should go directly south from central Illinois 
2080 miles, what point would we reach lying in the same 
latitude as the centre of the Philippines ? We should 
locate the spot in the Pacific Ocean just southwest of 
Nicaragua. 

Again, How do the Philippines compare in size with the 
British Isles ? By an examination of the tables we find 
that the area of the British Isles is 120,000 square miles, 



AND OTHER CONTINENTS 89 

or a little more than the whole of the Philippines, but the 
population of the British Isles is more than 38,000,000, or 
more than five times as great as that of the Philippines. 
How does the latitude of the British Isles compare with 
that of the Philippines? The parallel of 54 north lati- 
tude is found to pass near the centre of the British Isles, 
showing them to be 44 degrees, or 3050 miles, farther 
from the equator than the Philippines. 

In this case it is not our intention to illustrate the full 
treatment of the Philippines, but simply to suggest a few 
fruitful comparisons. In the case just cited such compari- 
sons require careful examination of maps and statistical 
tables. Children are fully capable of doing this and of 
drawing conclusions of importance. They also like this 
kind of investigation, which throws old and familiar facts 
into a new light, and explains new things by an appeal to 
well-known standards. The maps and statistical tables 
should be freely used by the teacher in setting problems 
for pupils relating to the relative area, location, and popu- 
lation of countries, the length of rivers, the size of cities, 
and the quantity of various products. 

The method of comparison in these various forms is one 
which depends almost wholly upon the thoughtf ulness and 
ingenuity of the teacher. 

There is a large quantity and variety of this map and 
statistical material in the books. By a proper use of it 
children can be taught how to work up reference material. 
Being so largely statistical and exact, it admits of definite 
comparisons and conclusions. Yet in the usual course of 
geography these materials play little or no part in the 
instruction. 

In order to get the children to employ these tables and 



90 WORTH AMERICA 

maps with understanding, the teacher should occasionally 
spend a recitation period with them, working out the 
answers to certain questions and problems which require 
an examination of their contents. Children are not apt to 
learn this without guidance and instruction. The above 
lesson was worked over in this way with a seventh grade 
class, and proved a valuable stimulus to interesting study. 
For older grades this kind of study furnishes excellent 
seat work after they have acquired some experience in the 
method of using the tables. It is also an excellent appli- 
cation of arithmetic. 

This is only a continuation of the method of compara- 
tive study worked out with such fulness of illustration in 
the last chapter of the Tarr and McMurry series. In 
the last two years of geographical work such comparative 
studies are especially appropriate, because the topics pre- 
viously treated in North America furnish abundant stand- 
ards of comparison. The older topics are thus thoroughly 
reviewed, and the new topics are thrown into a much 
clearer light by these comparisons. 

It should be observed by teachers that this mode of 
comparing widely separated topics (covering material 
found in different books of the series) cannot be worked 
out to any considerable extent in the text-books them- 
selves. There are numerous examples and suggestions of 
this method scattered through the books, but the books 
are mainly filled with subject-matter rather than with 
illustrations of detailed method. It remains, therefore, 
with the teacher to make such a method of treatment really 
effective. The children, however, need an introduction to 
this kind of study. The assignment of lessons preparatory 
to such studies and comparisons will take considerable 



STATE GEOGRAPHIES 91 

time. This kind of seat study furnishes the children 
with problems requiring some judgment and independent 
effort. It is far more valuable, in -grammar grades, than 
'the mere memorizing of the text. 

THE STATE GEOGRAPHIES 

The supplementary volumes called the State Geogra- 
phies, and those dealing with small groups of states like 
New England, will be found of great value in working out 
the general scheme of geographical study. As yet no set 
of geographies has made a proper use of these state geog- 
raphies. They have been chiefly a means of appealing to 
state pride, or a sort of commercial device for pleasing 
everybody. 

In the hands of a good teacher the state geographies and 
those of small groups of states in the Tarr and McMurry 
series may prove one of the most important means of put- 
ting interest and life into the whole study. There are 
several reasons for this, as follows : — 

1. These state geographies assume that children will be 
more interested in the important topics of their own state 
and of the states close at hand than in those far distant. 
This is in full accord with the idea of proceeding from the 
home outward, moving graduall}^ into the neighboring dis- 
tricts and states. - 

Most geographers who have made books have been 
opposed to or indifferent to this view, saying that when 
we leave the home neighborhood, it makes little difference 
how far we leap, as we are dealing, in any case, with things 
beyond the observation of children. 

But the assumption now is that a New England child 
will be more interested in New England topics, not so 



92 STATE GEOGRAPHIES 

much because they are more interesting in themselves 
than other topics, but because he has heard much more 
about them, and they have come closer to his experience 
in many ways. A New England boy or girl will be more 
interested in the climate and topography of New England 
than in that of North America as a whole or of Europe. He 
will be more interested, for example, to know the causes of 
the rapid change of New England weather, of which he has 
experienced much, than of such changes in Colorado or' 
British Columbia. The effects of glacial action in pro- 
ducing the hills, lakes, valleys, drumlins, soils, and har- 
bors of New England will interest him greatly because 
these things he sees and knows to some extent. Likewise 
the fisheries, lumbering, dairying, manufacturing, granite 
quarries, cities, and islands of that region will appeal to 
him. From childhood he has heard of these things, and 
of Boston and the White Mountains, of the Connecticut 
Valley, of the Berkshire Hills, and the Hoosac Tunnel. 
Knowing something about these things, he is glad to get 
more definite information. How the lumber is got from 
the woods in Maine, how milk is brought by train loads 
to Boston, where the leather and cotton come from for 
the factories, he will be pleased to know. 

2. The state geographies give an opportunity for an 
elaborate, picturesque, descriptive treatment of topics 
which, for lack of space, is not possible, to an equal 
extent, in the general geography. An examination of 
the supplementary volume on New England, for example, 
will show that in the pictures, maps, and detailed descrip- 
tions there is a richer, more interesting and instructive, 
treatment of the important New England topics than can 
be secured in any other way. 



STATE GEOGRAPHIES 93 

This is the kind of treatment of topics which appeals 
to children more than anything else. It is that thing in 
which most geographies completely fail. This deficiency 
is made up by a few teachers in skilful oral instruction, 
but in most cases, where the instruction is limited to the 
text-book, it is dull and lifeless. 

To put this concrete, interesting, descriptive material 
early into the school course, soon after finishing the home 
geography, will give a certain richness and vitality to all 
later study of geography. 

3. We have noticed that in the Tarr and McMurry 
geographies the treatment of a few large topics as units 
of instruction is one of the great steps in advance. The 
striking advantage in this lies, first, in the incorporation of 
a quantity of concrete description into these topics, and 
second, the employment of this whole unit as a type of 
kindred things. 

Now the topics treated in the state geographies are of 
this double character. They are rich in descriptive detail, 
and they are excellent types of similar topics the world over. 
They are based also upon the idea of cause and effect, and 
stand thus fundamentally related to the plan, which is 
worked out in the whole series. Lumbering, the fisheries, 
cotton manufacture, leather and shoemaking, the Con- 
necticut Valley, and Boston as a trade centre are such 
large topics useful for comparison in future study. This 
kind of study of large topics will put an end to the frag- 
mentary and incoherent memorizing of facts in indiscrimi- 
nate order. 

4. It will be possible, by means of a well-planned series, 
either of state geographies or of a treatment in small 
groups of states, to provide an extremely valuable series 



94 STATE GEOGBAPBIES 

of geographical readers or reference books for North 
America. Geographical readers on the United States 
have been thus far very rare and meagre, while those on 
foreign countries have been fuller and more numerous. 
Teachers and older children in the upper intermediate 
and grammar grades can make the best use of these 
supplementary books as reference material with which 
to enrich the topics of North America. 

It is assumed in such case that the supplement on New 
England would be almost as valuable for the teacher in 
Michigan or California or Louisiana as for the teacher 
in Massachusetts. It is at least evident that the way is 
open in this plan to secure a really rich and instructive 
treatment of the geography of the United States and of 
North America, and this cannot be said of any previous 
series of books. 



EEFERENCES TO BOOKS, AETICLES, ETC.^ 



Key to Abbreviations 

Publishing Houses. — American Book Co., New York (A. B. C.) ; 

D. Appleton & Co., New York (Appleton) ; The Century Co., New 
York (Century) ; Educational Publishing Co., Boston (E. P. C.) ; 
The Ginn Co., Boston (Ginn) ; Harper and Bros., New York (Har- 
per) ; Longmans, Green & Co., New York (L. G.) ; The Macmillan 
Co., New York (McM.) ; G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York (Putnam) ; 
Band, McNally & Co., Chicago (R. McN.) ; Chas. Scribner's Sons, 
New York (Scribner) ; Silver, Burdett & Co., New York (S. B. C). 

Magazines, etc. — Bulletin American Geographical Society ($1.00 
a number, $4.00 a year) New York (Bull. A. G. S.) ; Publications of 
the Bureau of American Republics, Washington, D.C. (B. Amer. R.) ; 
Canadian Magazine (|0.2.5), Toronto, Canada (C M.) ; Cassier's 
Magazine ($0.25), New York (Cass.) ; Century Magazine ($0.35), 
New York (Cent. Mag.); Cosmopolitan ($0.10), Irvington, N.Y. 
(Cos.)] Chautauquan ($0.25), Meadville, Pa. (Chaut.) ^ Harper's 
Magazine ($0.25), New York (H. M.) ; McClure's ($0.10), New York 
(McClure); National Geographic Magazine ($0.25 a number, $2.00 a 
year, including membership to society), Washington, D.C. (N. G. 
M.) ; New England Magazine ($0.35), Boston (N. E. M.) ; Popular 
Science Monthly ($0.25), New York (P. S. M.) ; Scribner's Magazine 
($0.35), New York (S. M.). 

In referring to magazines the volume is given first, the page last, 
thus. Vol. 5. p. 69 = 5 : 69. 

General. North America. — For references to magazines and 
journals, see First Book, pp. 256-257. Mill, " Hints to Teachers 

1 These references are not intended to be exhaustive : a few good books are 
selected, and others omitted because of their cost or for other reasons. In 
the ease of the magazine articles, too, only a few of the many good ones are 
mentioned. 

95 



96 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

Concerning the Choice of Geographical Books " (L. G., f 1.25) ; " The 
Statesman's Year Book " (McM., 13.00) ; Mill, " The International 
Geography " (Appleton, $3.50) ; Herbertson, " Man and His Work " 
(McM., $0.50) ; Lyde, ^' Man and His Markets " (McM., $0.50) ; 
Geikie, "The Teaching of Geography" (McM., $0.60) ; Pratt, "Amer- 
ican History Stories " (E. P. C, 4 vols., $0.36 each) ; Brooks, " Cen- 
tury Book for Yomig Americans" (Century, $1.50) ; Rocheleau, "Great 
American Industries " (C. A. Flanagan, Chicago, 2 vols., $0.50 each) ; 
Chase and Clow, " Stories of Industry " (E. P. C, 2 vols., $0.40 each) ; 
Coe, " Oar American Neighbors " (S. B. C, $0.60) ; Ballon, " Foot- 
prints of Travel " (Ginn, $1.00) ; Smith, " Our Own Country " (S. B. 
C, $0.50) ; Carpenter, " Geographical Reader, North America " 
(A. B. C, $0.60) ; Carrol, " Around the World Geography Series," 
Book II. (The Morse Co., New York, $0.38) ; King, " Picturesque 
Geographical Readers " (Lee & Shepard, Boston, Vol. 2, $0.72, Vols. 
3, 4, and 5 each $0.56) ; Ingersoll, "' The Book of the Ocean " (Century, 
$1.50) ; Lyde, " A Geography of North America " (McM., $0.50) ; 
Reclus, " The Earth and Its Inhabitants," Vols. XV, XVI, and 
XVII, very valuable, but expensive (Appleton, $5.00 each) ; " Stan- 
ford's Compendium of Geography and Travel," North America, Vol. 1, 
"^ Canada " by Dawson ; Vol. 2, " United States " by Gannett (Scrib- 
ner, $4.50 each). 

Physiography. — Shaler, " Outlines of the Earth's History " 
(App., $1.75) ; Shaler, " The Story of Our Continent " (Ginn, $0.75) ; 
Shaler, " Aspects of the Earth " (Scrib., $2.50) ; Davis, " Physical 
Geography" (Ginn, $1.25); Tarr, " Elementary Physical Geography" 
(McM., $1.40, contains references to works on physiography) ; Tarr, 
" First Book of Physical Geography " (McM., $1.10) ; Tarr, " Elemen- 
tary Geology " (McM., $1.40) ; Russell, " Rivers of North America " 
(Put., $2.00) ; Russell, " Lakes of North America " (Ginn, $1.50) ; 
Russell, " Glaciers of North America " (Ginn, $1.75) ; National 
Geographic Monographs (A. B. C, $2.50). 

Animals, Plants, etc. — " The Arid Regions of the United States " 
{N. G. M., '93, 5: 167); Wright, "Four-footed Americans" (McM., 
$1.50) ; Roosevelt, " Hunting Trips of a Ranchman " (Put., $3.00) ; 
Whitney, "On Snowshoes to the Barren Grounds" (Harper, $3.50); 
Heilprin, " The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals " 
(App., $2.00) ; Ingersoll, "Wild Neighbors" (McM., $1.50); "How 



BEFEBENCES TO BOOKS 97 

the Settlement of North America has affected Its Wild Animals" 
{Bull. A. G. S., '85, 17 : 17) ; Shaler, "Nature and Man in America" 
(Scrib., $1.50) ; Shaler, " Domesticated- Animals " (Scrib., $2.50). 

The United States. — Gannett, "The Building of a Nation" (The 
H. T. Thomas Co., New York, 12.50); Baedeker, "The United 
States" (Scrib., $3.60); Tarr, "Economic Geology of the United 
States " (McM., $3.50) ; Channing, " Students' History of the 
United States" (McM., $1.40); MacCoun, "An Historical Geog- 
raphy of the United States" (Townsend MacCoun, New York, 
$1.00); Whitney, "The United States'' (Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 
$2.00) ; Patton, " The Natural Resources of the United States " 
(App., $3.00); King, "Handbook of the United States" (Moses 
King Corporation, Buifalo, N.Y., $2.50) ; " The Growth of the United 
States" (N. G. 71/., '98, 9 : 377) ; " The Conduct of Great Businesses." 
{S. M., several numbers, Vols. 21 and 22, 1897); "Distribution of 
Manufactures in the United States" (Chaut., Sept., '98, 27: 587); 
"Textile Industries of the United States" (Chaut., March, '99, 28: 538); 
"Modern Light House Service" (Cass., Aug. and Sept., '91, 6:297 
and 355) ; " The Life Saving Service " (P. S. M., Jan., '91, 41 : 346). 

New England. — Davis, " Physical Geography of Southern New 
England" (A. B. C, $0.20) ; "American Lumber" (Chaut., Feb., '99, 
28 : 436) ; Thbreau, " The Maine Woods " (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
New York, $1.50) ; " Fishing Industries of the United States" (Chaut., 
Jan., '98, 26 : 387); "New England Fisheries" (N. E. M., Apr., '94, 
10:229); Kipling, "Captains Courageous" Cent., $1.50); "The 
Granite Industry in New England " (N. E. M., Feb., '92, 5 : 742) ; 
"Cotton Manufactures of New England" (Chaut., Apr., '93, 17:37); 
" Cotton Spinning in North and South " (P. S. M., Oct., '90, 37 : 798) ; 
" The Manufacture of Wool " (P. S. M., June, July, Aug., '91, 39 : 176, 
289, and 454) ; " Leather Making " (P. S. M., July, '92, 41 : 339) ; 
" The Manufacture of Boots and Shoes " (P. S. M., Aug., '92, 41 : 496); 
" Boston at the Century's End" (H. M., Nov., '99, 99 : 823). 

Middle Atlantic States. — Gilbert, " Niagara Falls and Their His- 
tory" (A. B. C, $0.20); "The Coal Industry" (Chaut., Jan., '93, 
16 : 416) ; Articles on Iron and Steel (Cass., five papers, July to Nov., 
'93, Vols. 4 and 5 ; Feb., '00, 17 : 259 ; McClure, June, '94, 3 : 3 ; ^. ikT., 
March, '94, 88 : 587) ; " The Manufacture of Iron " (P. S. M., Dec, '90; 
Feb. and March, '91, 38 : 145, 449, and 586) ; " The Manufacture of 



98 EOME GEOGRAPHY 

Steel " (P. S. M., Oct., Nov., '91, 39 : 729, and 40 : 15) ; Articles on Ship 
Building (Cass., July, '92, 2 : 157 ; Aug., '97, 12 : 341, and 393 ; March, 
'98, 13 : 385) ; " Canning Industry in the United States " (Chaut., Nov., 
'98, 28 : 126) ; " The Water Front of New York (S. M., Oct., '99, 26 : 
385); "The City of Homes" (H. M., June, '94, 89:3); "The New 
Baltimore " (H. M., Feb., '96, 92 : 331) ; " Washington Society " 
(H. M., March and April, '93, 86 : 586 and 674). 

Southern States. — Hayes, " The Southern Appalachians" (A. B. C, 
$0.20) ; Ralph, " Dixie, or Southern Scenes and Sketches " (Harper, 
$2.50, published originally in H. M., 1892-95) ; Brooks, " Cotton, Its 
Uses, Culture, etc." (Spon and Chamberlain, New York, $3.00) ; 
"Culture and Preparation of Cotton in the United States" (Cos., 
March, '93, 14:539); "Sugar in the United States" (ChauL, June, 
'92, 15 : 290 ; Oct., '92, 16 : 36) ; " Rice and Its Culture " (P. S. M., 
Oct., '90, 37 : 827) ; " The Old Dominion " (H. M., Dec, '93, 88 : 4) ; 
"Subtropical Florida" (S. M., March, '94, 15 : 345) ; " Texas" (H. M., 
Sept., '93, 87 : 561); " An Indian Commonwealth " (Indian Territory) 
(//. Jf., Nov., '93,87:884). 

Central States. — Dryer, "Studies in Indiana Geography" (Inland 
Pub. Co., Indianapolis, Ind., $0.50) ; Hovey, " Celebrated American 
Caverns" (R. Clarke Co., Cincinnati, O., $2.00); "The Mammoth 
Cave" (Cent. May., March, '98, 33 : 643); "The Development of Rail- 
roads in the United States" (ChauL, Oct., '94, 20: 1); "In White 
Pine Forests" (Cass., Sept., '94, 6:408); "Wheat and Its Distribu- 
tion" (Cos., Nov., '98, 26 : 114); "Beet Sugar Industry in the United 
States " (Special Report, Department of Agriculture, Washington) ; 
" Ranching " (//. M., Feb. and March, '94, 88 : 350 and 515) ; " The 
Chicago Packing Industry " (Cos., Oct., '99, 27 : 599) ; " Copper Mining 
in the United States " (Cass., Jan., '97, 11 : 215) ; " Chicago " (S. M., 
June, '95, 17:663). 

Western States. — Parkman, " The Oregon Trail " (Little, Brown 
& Co., Boston, $1.00); "The New Northwest" (77. M., Jan. '98, 96 : 
299) ; Ralph, " Our Great West" (Harper, $2.50, published originally 
in H. M., 1892-94) ; "The Pacific Coast Guide Book " (R. McN., $1.00); 
" The Grand Canon " (H. M., Aug., '98, 97 : 377) ; " The Great Walled 
River" (Bull. A. G. S., '87, 19 : 113) ;" Gold and Silver Mining" 
(ChauL, March, '97, 24:670); "From Mine to Mint" (Cass., May, 
'94, 6:3); "Lumbering in the Northwest" (Cos., May, '93, 15:63); 



BEFEBENCES TO BOOKS 99 

" The Redwood Forest of the Pacific Coast " {N. G. M., '99, 10 : 145) ; 
" The United States Forest Reserves " (P. S. M., Feb., '98, 52 : 456) ; 
Newell, " Irrigation on the Great Plains " ('96 Year Book, Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, p. 197); "The Grape Gatherers" {Cos., 
Oct., '99, 27:612); "Fruit Industry in California" (P. S. M., Dec, 
'93,44:200). 

Dependencies, etc., Alaska. — Scidmore, " Guide Book to Alaska" 
(App., $1.25); Swineford, "Alaska" (R. McN., 11.00); "Alaska" 
{B. Amer. B., $0.25) ; "Geographical Notes in Alaska" (Bull. A. G. S., 
'96, 28 : 1) ; " Alaska " (N. G. M., '98, 9 : 105-190, twelve articles) ; 
"Mountaineering in Alaska" {Bull. A. G. S., '96, 28:217); "An 
Expedition Through the Yukon District" (N. G. M., '92, 4:117); 
"Life on a Yukon Trail" (N. G. M., '99, 10:377 and 457); "The 
Rescue of the Whalers" {H. M., June, '99, 99: 3); "The Alaskan 
Boundary " (N. G. M., '99, 10 : 425) . 

Cuba and Porto Rico. — See under West Indies. 

Hawaiian Islands. — Alexander, " A Brief History of the Hawaiian 
People" (A. B, C, 11.50); Whitney, " Hawaiian America" (Harper, 
$2.50); Young, "The Real Hawaii" (Doubleday and McClure Co., 
New York, $1.50) ; " Hawaii " (B. Amer. B., $0.25) ; " Report of the 
Hawaiian Commission" (State Department, Washington); "The 
Hawaiian Islands" {Bull. A. G. ,S\, '89, 21 : 149) ; Wallace, "Island 
Life " (McM., $1.75) ; Articles on Samoa (N. G. M., '99, 10 : 207). 

Philippines.— Worcester, " The Philippine Islands" (McM,, ($4.00) ; 
Young-husband, " The Philippines and Round About " (McM., $2.50) ; 
" Manila and the Philippines " {S. M., July, '98, 24 : 12) ; " Life in 
Manila" {Cent. Mag., Aug., '98, 34: 563) ; "Report of the Philippine 
Commission " (State Department, Washington) ; Articles on the 
Philippines (N. G. M., '98, 9 : 257-304 ; '99, 10 : 33-72 ; '00, 11 : 1) ; 
" The Philippine Islands " {Bull. A. G. S., '83, 15 : 73). 

Canada. — Hatton and Harvey, " Newfoundland " (Doyle and 
Whipple, Boston, $2.50) ; "The Relation of the United States and 
Canada " (Senate Reports, No. 1530, Washington) ; Ralph, " On 
Canada's Frontier " (Harper, $2.50, published originally in H. M., 
1892-95 ; Parkin, "The Great Dominion " (McM., $1.75) ; Baedeker, 
" The Dominion of Canada " (Scrib., $1.50) ; Canadian Guide Book, 
(App., $1.00) ; Statistical Year Book (each year by Department of 
Agriculture, Ottawa) ; " Canada, the Land of Water Ways " {Bull. 

L.ofO. 



100 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

A. G. S., '90, 22 : 351) ; Articles on Lumbering (C. M., Apr., '94, 2: 
549 and 556). 

The Far North. — Mrs. Peary, " My Arctic Journal " (Contemporary 
Publishing Co., :N'ew York, $2.00) ; Hayes, " The Land of Desolation " 
(Harper, $1.75); Nansen, "First Crossing of Greenland" (L. G., 
$1.25) ; " Days in the Arctic " (H. AL, Sept. '98, 97 : 499) ; " The 
Glaciers of Greenland" (P. S. M., Nov. '94, 46 : 1) ; " Greenland and 
the Greenlanders " (P. S. M., July '90, 37 : 302) ; " The Arctic High- 
lander " (S. M., Feb., '92, 11 : 241) ; " A Day's Hunting Among the 
Eskimos " (P. S. M., Feb., '95, 46 : 446) ; Boas, " A Year Among the 
Eskimo " (Bull. A. G. S., '87, 19 : 383). 

Mexico. — " Guide to Mexico" (App., $1.50); Baedeker, "The 
United States" (with an excursion into Mexico), (Scrib., $3.60); 
Bancroft, " Resources and Development of Mexico " (The Bancroft 
Co., San Francisco, $4.50) ; Romero, " Geographical and Statistical 
Notes on Mexico " (Put., $2.00) ; Romero, " Coffee and India Rubber 
Culture in Mexico " (Put., $3.00) ; " An Outpost of Civilization " 
(H. M., Dec, '93, 88:71); Griffin, "Mexico of To-day" (Harper, 
$1.50) ; Lummis, " The Awakening of a Nation " (Harper, $2.50) ; 
" Mexico " (B. Amer. R., $0.50). 

Central America. — Belt, " Naturalist in Nicaragua " (Scribner and 
Welford, New York, $3.00) ; Calvo, " The Republic of Costa Rica " 
(R. McN., $2.00) ; Charles, " Honduras " (R. McN., $1.50) ; Hand- 
books (B. Amer. R.) on Costa Rica, Honduras, Salvador, and Nicara- 
gua (each, $0.35, Guatemala, $0.25) ; Monthly Bulletins of the Same 
Bureau (each, $0.25) also contain information about American 
Republics ; " Three Gringos in Central America " (H. M., Sept. and 
Oct., '91, 91 : 490 and 730) ; " India Rubber and Gutta Percha " 
(P. S. M., March, '97, 50 : 679) ; " Across Nicaragua " (N. G. M., '89, 
1 : 315) ; Articles on the Nicaragua Canal {N. G. M., '99, 10 : 297). 

West Indies. — Hill, " Cuba and Porto Rico " (Cent., $3.00) ; Rod- 
way, " The West Indies and the Spanish Main " (Put., $1.75) ; Kings- 
ley, "At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies" (McM., $1.25); 
" The Foreign Commerce of Our Possessions," etc. (Treasury Depart- 
ment, Washington) ; Handbooks on Haiti and Santo Domingo (B. 
Amer. R., $0.35, each); "Cuba" (N. G. M., '98, 9:193); "Porto 
Rico " (N. G. M., '99, 10 : 93) ; " Haiti the Unknown " (H. M., Aug., 
'93, 99 : 365) ; " Havana since the Occupation " (S. M., July, '99, 26 : 



BEFEBENCES TO BOOKS 101 

86) ; " Aspects of Nature in the West Indies " (S. 31., July, '93, 14 : 
101) ; " How the Bananas Grow " (Cos., Feb., '98, 24 : 365) ; Heilprin, 
"The Bermuda Islands" (A. Heilprin,- Philadelphia, |3.50). 

Government Publications. — Only a very few references are made to 
the many government publications of geographic interest. There are 
far too many to refer to. For instance, the Smithsonian Institution 
Annual Report usually contains articles on geographic subjects, and 
the Fish Commission has published many excellent accounts of the 
different fishing industries. From the Weather Bureau are issued not 
merely weather maps, but Annual Reports and Monthly Weather 
Reviews, 

Among the publications of the Geological Survey are reports upon 
Irrigation, Annual Reports containing many excellent accounts of 
the geology of interesting regions, especially mining regions, and 
also Annual Reports on the Mineral Resources of the country, with 
statistics. Besides these, the Geological Survey issues topographic 
maps (five cents each, or two cents by the hundred). A list of these 
maps can be obtained upon application, and the teacher may find a 
map of the region where the school is situated. 

A great range of topics is covered by the various Annual Reports 
(called Year Books) and Bulletins of the Department of Agriculture 
upon such subjects as farming, various crops, forestry, botany, mam- 
mals, irrigation, etc. Special reports of importance (some of which 
are referred to above) are issued by the Treasury Department, which 
also issues Statistical Abstracts on commerce, finance, population, etc. 
From the State Department, besides valuable special papers (like the 
Report of the Philippine Commission), are issued the Consular Re- 
ports, which have articles and notes upon foreign industries, etc. A 
wealth of geographical information is contained in the various Census 
volumes. Besides these, there are other reports, as that on the Pre- 
cious Metals, issued annually by the Director of the Mint, the Report 
of the Bureau of Ethnology, and the Report of the Commissioner on 
Indian affairs. The maps of the United States Coast Survey will be 
found of value, especially in those schools located on the coast, which 
should certainly have' the maps of their immediate locality. Many 
states also issue valuable reports on agriculture, mining, manufactur- 
ing, etc. 

In order to find out about the government publications, one can 



102 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

often obtain a list of those issued by a given bureau by writing to the 
Superintendent of Public Documents, Washington. A monthly list 
of all government publications is also prepared by the Superintendent 
of Public Documents, thus permitting one to keep track of new publi- 
cations. Some of the publications must be purchased, but many may 
be obtained by writing to one's congressman or senator, to whom copies 
are given for free distribution among constituents. The great major- 
ity of government documents are issued for free distribution. Appli- 
cations for these, in moderation, are invariably granted when needed 
for schools, provided the quota is not already exhausted. 

General Geography 

Earth ; Winds and Rain. — Books by Davis and byTarr referred to 
under "Physiography"; Ward, "Practical Exercises in Elementary 
Meteorology" (Ginn, |1.12). 

Ocean Currents, etc. — Books by Davis and by Tarr (see " Physi- 
ography ") ; Shaler, " Sea and Land " (Scrib., $2.50) ; Pillsbury, " The 
Gulf Stream " (U. S. Coast Survey, Washington) ; Darwin, " Tides " 
(Houghton, Mifflin & Co., N.Y., $2.00) ; Guyot, " The Earth and 
Man " (Scrib., |1.75) ; " The Depths of the Sea " (S. M., July, '92, 
12:77); "How the Sea is Sounded" (P. S. 3L, Jan., '94, 44:334). 

General, for South America, Europe, etc. 

Among the many valuable but expensive books of reference men- 
tion may be made of Reclus' " The Earth and its Inhabitants " 
(App., 19 vols., $5.00 each) ; Stanford's " Compendiums of Geogra- 
phy " (Scrib., 8 vols, at $4.50 and 2 vols, at $8.40) ; and Baedeker's 
Guide Books (Scrib.), price variable. The latter may be found in 
the libraries of friends who have travelled abroad. 

There are a number of series for young people which contain good 
material: for example, Butterworth, "Zigzag Journey Series" (Dana 
Estes & Co., Boston, 18 vols., $1.50 each); Hale, "Family Flight 
Series" (Lothrop Publishing Co., Boston, 5 vols., $1.50 each); Champ- 
ney, " Three Vassar Girls " series (Dana Estes & Co., Boston, 11 vols., 
$0.75 each). 

Every teacher of geography will find Mill's " International Geog- 
raphy " (App., $3.50) and " The Statesman's Year Book " (McM., 



BEFEBENCES TO BOOKS 103 

$3.00) of inestimable value. For physiography and climate some 
help may be gained from Tarr, "First Book of Physical Geography" 
(McM., 11.10). 

South America 

There is a Handbook for each of the republics, issued by the 
Bureau of American Republics, Washington, D.C., price from $0.30 
to 10.50 each. Ballon, "Equatorial America" (H. M. C, <|1.50) ; 
Carpenter, Geographical Reader, " South America " (A. B. C, |0.60) ; 
Childs, "South American Republics" (H. B., $3.50); Curtis, "Cap- 
itals of Spanish America " (H. B., $3.50) ; Coe, " Our American 
J^eighbors" (S. B. C, $0.60); President Hubbard's Annual Address, 
" South America " (N. G. M., March, '91, 3 : 1) ; " Climatic Notes made 
during a Voyage around South America " (/. S. G., Sept. and Oct., '98, 
2 : 241 and 297) ; " A Winter Voyage through the Straits of Magellan " 
(iV. G. M., May, '97, 8 : 129) ; " The First Landing on the Antarctic 
Continent" (Cent. Mag., Jan., '96, 51:432); "Magellan and the Pa- 
cific " (H. M., Aug., '90, 81 : 357) ; Bates, " A N"aturalist on the River 
Amazon " (Humboldt Library, New York, $1.00) ; Andrews, " Brazil, 
Its Conditions and Prospects " (App., $1.50); Ford, " Tropical America" 
(Scrib., $2.00); "The Valley of the Amazon and its Development" 
(/. S. G., Sept., '97, 1 : 193) ; " The Argentine Capital " (H. M., 
March, '91, 82:491); "Argentine Provincial Sketches" (H. M., Apr., 
'91, 82:781); "The Argentine People," etc. (H. M., May, '91, 82: 
863) ; " Patagonia " (N. G. M., Nov., '97, 8 : 305) ; " The Republic of 
Uruguay " (H. M., May, '91, 82 : 906) ; " The Republic of Paraguay " 
(H. M., July, '91, 83:222); Rodway, "In the Guiana Wilds" (L.'c. 
Page & Co., Boston, $1.25); Curtis, "Venezuela" (H. B., $1.25); 
"Venezuela: her government," etc. (N. G. M., Feb., '96, 7:49); 
"Glimpses of Venezuela and Guiana" (Cent. Mag., July, '96, 52: 
358) ; Whymper, " Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator " 
(Scrib., $2.50); "Across the Andes" (H. M., Sept., '90, 81:489); 
"The Ascent of Illimani" and "Climbing Mount Sorata" (H. M., 
Oct. and Nov., '99, 99 : 657 and 863); " The Road to Bolivia " (N. G. M., 
June and July, 1900, 11:209 and 264); "A Journey in Ecuador" 
(N. G. M., July, '96, 7 : 238) ; Pratt, " Pizarro : Conquest of Peru " 
(E. P. C, $0.30); "Impressions of Peru" (H. M., Jan., '91, 82:253) ; 
Smith, "Temperate Chile" (McM., $3.50) ; " The Climatic Control of 



104 HOME GEOGRAPHY 

Occupation in Chile " (/. S. G., Dec, '97, 1 : 289) ; Articles on Chile 
(H. M., Oct. and Nov., '90, 81 : 764 and 901) ; " A Day in the Falk- 
land Islands " (J. *S:. G., Feb., '98, 2 :49). 

Europe 

Lyde, " A Geography of Europe " (McM., |0.50) ; Coe, " Modern 
Europe " (S. B. C, t|0.60) ; Emerson, " European Glimpses and 
Glances " (Cassell & Co., New York, $1.00) ; King, " Northern 
Europe" (Lee & Shepard, Boston, $0.60) ; Davis, " The Rulers of the 
Mediterranean " (H. B. |1.25) ; " From the Black Forest to the Black 
Sea " (H. M., Feb. to Aug., '92, Vols. 84 and 85) ; Lyde, " A Geogra- 
phy of the British Isles" (McM., $0.60) ; Green, "A Short Geography 
of the British Islands" (McM., |0.90) ; Davis, "Our English Cousins" 
(H. B., <|1.25); Pratt, "Stories of England" (E. P. C, $0.40); Geikie, 
" The Scenery in Scotland " (McM., $3.50) ; Corbin, " Schoolboy Life 
in England " (H. B., $1.25) ; " The Temperature of the British Isles " 
(/. S. G., Dec, '98, 2 : 361) ; " The House of Commons," etc. (H. M., 
Dec, '93, 88 : 34) ; " A General Election in England " (H. M., Sept., '93, 
87 : 489); " London as seen by C. D. Gibson " (S. M., Feb.-June, '97, 
Vol. 21) ; " The Geography of Greater London " (J. S. G., Feb., '01, 
5 : 41) ; " The Best-governed City in the World " (H. M., June, '90, 
81 : 99) ; " Notes on the Geography of Scotland " (/. S. G., May, '98, 
2 : 161) ; " From Home to Throne in Belgium " (H. M., Apr. '97, 94 : 
722) ; " Principal Cities of Holland " (ChauL, June, '98, 27 : 227) ; 
"Land Wrested from the Sea" (ChauL, Aug., '95, 21:597); "The 
Picturesque Quality of Holland " (S. M., 2 : 160 ; 5 : 162 ; 10 : 621) ; 
Macdonald, " Paris of the Parisians " (Lippincott, Philadelphia, $1.50) ;^ 
Davis, " About Paris " (H. B., $1.25) ; " Present Condition of France " 
(ChauL, Dec, '98, 28 : 280) ; " Commerce and Manufactures of France " 
(ChauL, Aug., '97, 25 : 480) ; " The French Army " (//. M., Apr., '91, 
82 : 653) ; Finck, " Spain and Morocco " (Scrib., $1.25) ; Stoddard, 
"Spanish Cities" (Scrib., $1.50); Stephens, "Portugal" (Put., $1.50) : 
Loring, " A Year in Portugal " (Put., $1.50) ; " Up Gibraltar ; to 
Tangier; into Spain" (ChauL, Aug., '93, 17:515); Articles on 
Spanish Cities (Cos., May-Sept., '96, Yol. 21) ; Thomas, " Sweden 
and the Swedes" (Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago, $3.75); Pratt, 
" Legends of Norseland " (E. P. C, $0.40) ; " A Glacier Excursion in 



BEFEBENCES TO BOOKS 105 

Norway" (Cos., Oct., '97, 23 : 625) ; Stepniak, "The Russian Peas- 
antry " (H. B., ^1.25) ; Stepniak, " Russia under the Tzars " (Scrib., 
$1.50) ; Greene, " Army Life in Russia " (Scrib., .|1.25) ; " Baltic 
Russia " (H. M., July, '90, 81 : 295) ;" " The Czar's People " (H. M., 
June, '98, 97 : 3) ; " Awakened Russia " (H. M., May, '98, 96 : 817) ; 
"Finland" etc. (H. M., Feb., '91, 82:330); "The People of the 
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" Stories from Old Germany" (E. P. C, $0.40) ; " The Government 
of German Cities" (Cent. Mag., June, '94, 48:296); "Some im- 
pressions of Berlin " (Cos., Jan., 1900, 28 : 315) ; " Impressions of 
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Feb., '98, 96 : 269 and 382) ; " The German Army of To-day " (H. M., 
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560); "The German Royal Family" (Chaut., Sept., '96, 23:668); 
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and Aug., '93, 87 : 165 and 393) ; " The Corso of Rome " (S. M., Oct., 
'91, 10 : 399) ; " St. Peter's " (Cent. Mag., July, '96, 52 : 323) ; " The 
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(A. B. C, $0.60); Smith, "Life in Asia" (S. B. C, $0.60); "Across 
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87-91); Mathews, "New Testament Times in Palestine" (McM., 
$0.75) ; Douglas, " The Land where Jesus Christ lived " (Thomas 



106 HOME GEOGBAPHY 

Nelson & Sons, New York, |1.00) ; Curtis, " Howadji in Syria " 
(H. B., $1.50); "The Holy Places of Islam" {H. M., Nov., '92, 85: 
813); "The Russo-Siberian Plain" (/. *S\ G., March, '00, 4:81); 
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Jungle Books" (Cent., $1.50); "Elephant and Tiger Hunting in 
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Farthest People" (Tibet) (Cos., Feb., 1900, 28:443); "Life in the 
Malay Peninsula" (Cent. Mag., Feb., '93, 45:577); Colquhoun, 
"Overland to China" (II. B., $3.00); Colquhoun, "China in Trans- 
formation" (H. B., $3.00); "The Crisis in China" (H. B., $1.00); 
Little, "Through the Yangtse Gorges" (Scrib., $2.50); Ralph, "Alone 
in China " (PI. B., $2.00) ; Pratt, " Stories of China" (E. P. C, $0.40) ; 
" In the City of Canton " (Cent. Mag., Nov., '94, 49 : 59) ; " The Great 
Wall of China" (Cent. Mag., Jan., '93, 45:327 and 332); Series of 
Articles on China (Cent. Mag., Aug.-Oct., '99, Yol. 58) ; also (H. M., 
June-Aug., '95, Yol. 91); Griffis, " Corea : The Hermit Nation" 
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'91, Yols. 8 and 9) ; "Japanese Women" (H. M., Dec, '90, 82 : 119); 
" An American Artist in Japan" (Cent. Mag., Sept., '89, 38': 670). 

Africa 

Lyde, " A Geography of Africa " (McM., $0.50) ; Stanley and others, 
"Africa: Its Partition and Its Future" (Dodd, Mead & Co., New 
York, $1.25); Badlam, " Yiews in Africa" (S. B. C, $0.72); Annual 
Address of President Hubbard, " Africa, Its Past and, Future " 
(N. G. M., '89, 1 : 99) ; " Africa since 1888 " (N. G. M., May, '96, 7: 
157); Curtis, "Nile Notes of a Howadji" (H. B., $1.50); Edwards, 
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$2.50); Rawlinson, "The Story of Ancient Egypt" (Put., $1.50); 



BEFEBENCES TO BOOKS 107 

" The Egyptian Sudan and Its History " (/. S. G., Feb., '99, 3 : 41) ; 
"In Fascinating Cairo" (Cent. Mag., Oct., '99, 58:811); "Climatic 
Control in the Desert " (J. S. G., Sept. '99, 4 : 255) ; " A Sahara 
Caravan " (S. M., March, '93, 13 : 315) ; " Cairo in 1890 " (H. AL, 
Oct., :Nov., '91, 83:651 and 828); "Peeps into Barbary" (H. M., 
Aug., '96, 93 : 387) ; " Tripoli of Barbary " {S. M., Jan., '90, 7 : 37) ; 
"An Arab Fete in the Desert" {Cos., Apr., '97, 22:665); Bryce, 
" Impressions of South Africa " (Cent., ^3.50) ; Stanley, " Through 
South Africa" (Scrib., $1.00) ; Hillegas, " Oom Paul's People" (App., 
11.50) ; Bigelow, " White Man's Africa " (H. B., $2.50) ; Younghus- 
band, "South Africa of To-day" (McM., $2.00); "Empire-building 
in South Africa" {Cos., March, '96, 20 : 472) ; Drummond, " Tropical 
Africa" (Scrib., $1.00); Stanley, "My Kalulu" (Scrib., $1.50); Stanley, 
" My Dark Companions " (Scrib., $2.00) ; " The Pygmies of the Great 
African Forest" {S. M., Jan., '91, 9:3); "Abyssinia" {N. G. M., 
March, '01, 12:89); "The Gold Coast, Ashanti and Kumassi" 
{N. G. M., Jan., '97, 8:1); " Life among the Congo Savages" {S. M., 
Feb., '90, 7:135). 

Australia, etc. 

Davitt, " Life and Progress in Australasia" (N'ew Amsterdam Book 
Co., New York, $2.50); Pratt, "Stories of Australasia" (E. P. C, 
$0.40); Kellogg, "Australia and the Islands of the Sea" (S. B. C, 
$0.68); Ballon, "Under the Southern Cross" (H. M. C, $1.50); 
" The Australian Horseman " (H. M., July, '99, 99 : 257) ; " Convicts 
and Bushrangers in Australia" {Cos., May and June, '96, 21:91 
and 173); "New Zealand" {H. M., Aug., '91, 83:327); Chalmers, 
"Pioneer Life and Work in New Guinea" (F. H. Bevell & Co., New 
York, $1.50); Reeves, "Brown Men and Women" (McM., $3.50); 
" A Little Journey in Java " {H. M., May, '94, 88 : 918) ; " Down to 
Java " {Cent. Mag., Aug., '97, 54 : 527) ; " The Climate of the Philip- 
pine Islands" (/. S. G., Dec, '99, 3 : 361) ; "The Samoan Islands" 
{N. G. M., Nov., '00, 11:417); "Samoa" (N. G. M., June, '00, 
10:207). 



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AUG 



8 Rec'd 



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